Hero Gothic
by gothicjedi666
Summary: I took the story down for a while to edit it and hopefully this version is better. In the second chapter you will see the changes I made. Warnings for sex, violence and swearing.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note. **

**The standard disclaimers apply. I own nothing from this fan fiction its all done for fun and no profit is being made. **

**Warnings. Sex, Violence, Torture and so on. Expect this to be just like my Evil Overlord really only a little different as Hero Gothic has different powers and knows how to use guns. **

**And as its been a while since I played Fable so if I don't do it justice, I'm sorry. I intend to change things a little in the worlds the character visits to suite the story so don't expect those worlds to be as you exactly as you remember. **

**Hero Gothic. Book One. Part One.**

**London 2012. **

I should of found it odd that an attractive younger women who could of easily gotten a job as a supermodel came and sat down next to me. But then I remembered that old expression about gift horses and mouths, and decided not to question my good luck. In retrospect I should have a least asked her why she was talking to me but I was suffering from booze enhanced depression at the time and I was just glad to have someone to talk to.

The girl was as I said attractive, in fact she was very attractive. She had lovely shoulder length dark hair that looked liked something out of a shampoo commercial. Her smile was flawless and her brown eyes just drew me in. Plus she had a hot set of breasts with an odd looking amulet drawing your eyes to them. Not that she minded me looking in fact she seemed to like the attention.

After I paid for a couple of expensive drinks she started to flirt with me a little and even put her hand on mine which was when I noticed the strange ring she wore. Like the amulet she had on it drew my attention and not because I had an eye for jewellery,, it was more like the ring was calling to me urging me to take it for myself.

"That's an interesting piece of jewellery" I said trying to sound casual.

"Its called the Band of Blacknill" she told me. "I got hold of it during a job and since then I've been able to travel a lot further than my co-workers".

How the hell does a ring do that?

"Must be nice to be able to travel" I said "I've always wanted to go and see new places".

The girl seemed to pounce on that sentence like a hungry loin on a gazelle.

"Is that you fondest wish?" she asked with a little to much interest.

I sat back on my bar stool and gave the question some thought. What was my fondest wish?. To be rich, to be famous. To be rich and famous. Of course a lot of people want that, and sort of an answer wasn't going to impress this girl she would of heard a lot of men say stuff like that before and I did so want to impress her a little. Mostly so she would sleep with me.

"I wish" I began as the girl, whose name I had forgotten, slided onto my lap. "I wish I had a life that mattered. I wish I was someone with the power to change things, someone who could do great deeds. Someone who inspired others. I wish I was the kind of guy stories would be told about, the kind of guy who people either love or hate. But most of all I wish I was special".

Okay so that wasn't the best way I could of put it but when your drunk and have an attractive women sitting on your lap its not easy to express yourself with big words. In fact it was hard to do anything other than drool.

The girl on my lap laughed and said.

"Well that was quite original I have to admit. Most men want to be sports stars or actors and I let them be just not in the way they expect. But your not like that you want substance don't ya".

Err say what now?.

"Okay tell you what I'll give you that life. It won't be an easy one but I won't screw you over to badly. Normally I'd make a guy famous if he wished it but twist it so he ends up being kidnapped by some crazed stalker or at least he'd end up in jail on some trumped up charges while sharing a cell with a guy called 'Bubba' but with you I'm gonna give you a fair chance".

The women kissed me before saying.

"In fact I might just come and see how your doing in a few months, maybe then we pick up from where we left off".

She got up off my lap and put my arms around her waist. Tilting my head she made eye contact with me and suddenly her face changed into something that drove all thoughts of sex with her out of my head so fast you would think she turned out be my sister.

"Wish granted" said the monster girl and everything faded away.

**Albion. The Heroes Guild.**

Sometimes just before you wake up fully from sleep you get these few glorious moments of utter peace just before you realise you that you have get up and live whatever crappy existence passes for your life.

I had just experienced those few moments and had gotten up to deal with my hangover when I realised that this wasn't my crappy existence.

The bed wasn't mine, the room wasn't mine and there certainly weren't other beds in my flat in fact this wasn't even my flat.

Now this had happened before as much of a loser I might seem even I managed to get lucky now and again, finding myself in someone woman's bed after a night of sex wasn't that much of an alien experience to me.

Sadly there was no sexy girl in the bed with me. And I was pretty sure that most women don't sleep in what could pass for a library. Well not unless books really aroused them.

I got out of the bed and examined myself. Well I seemed to be one piece which was good and the only bits of clothing that were missing were my leather jacket, steel toe capped boots, newish socks and my lucky pair black jeans with the gold threading. All of which turned out to be neatly folded and clean waiting for me on a nearby chair.

I quickly got dressed and checked over my stuff. My mobile phone was dead but it properly just needed to be charged, I was always forgetting to charge it. A half empty packet of Richmond's king sized and a lighter were in my other jacket pocket. I lit up right away and nearly gagged followed by a coughing fit. I didn't smoke that much I mostly a social smoker but I had never reacted that badly.

I threw the lit cigarette into a nearby fire place and looked for my wallet. Everything was still there. Fifty pounds of my wages, bank cards and my I.D. Which meant I hadn't been robbed that's good.

Next I wandered over to the books to give me some idea of who I had gone home with. They must be fiction because I had never heard of places called Oakvale and Bowerstone.

"Good morning young man".

I nearly jumped out my skin and with surprising speed I turned around to face the source of the voice. Which turned out to be some elderly man.

The man was bald, old and had a funky looking tattoo on his forehead. But the tattoo wasn't the odd part, it was his clothes. He wore and blue and gold coat over what seemed to be armour. So weird old guy then.

God I hope I didn't sleep with him.

Not that I am against men sleeping together but it he really wasn't my type and if I had gotten that drunk it might be time to quit drinking.

"Err hi" I said rather lamely.

"My name is Weaver and I am the Guildmaster" he said in a tone that suggested that I should understand what that meant.

Not that I did of course and if this was some sort of kinky roleplay it was to damn early and he could of least brought me some coffee.

"Well I'm James, assuming that I didn't tell you that already. And where am I?".

"We haven't met before, in fact you just woke up. When Blaze found you sleeping in the forest she brought you here" Weaver explained.

"How long was I out?" I asked now really worried about drunk I had gotten.

Still at least I now knew that I hadn't go home with some dirty old man. In fact hadn't I been with a women that night?.

"Only two days. You seemed sick when you were brought in but your fever went down quickly. You don't seem to be sick now nor were you injured so I can't explain why you slept so long".

Well that was odd I had never taken so long to recover from drinking and while it sounded like I might of gotten alcohol poisoning I don't think I drank that much.

Fuzzy memories of drinking and talking to an attractive woman filled my mind. Had she done something, yes she must of attacked me that was it but he just said I had no injuries to speak off.

I tried to focus and I then remembered that there had been something wrong with her face at one point and she had granted my wish. What had been that wish? Something about being important.

Then everything clicked. I had a moment of understanding I figured out what happened. That face it was like she had been a monster, a wish granting monster. In fact I had seen it before but on a T.V show. Vengeance Demons that was it, they granted wishes but twisted them so the outcome was always evil and cruel but they weren't real. Were they?. And if they were why had one of them been in a London bar and why pick me?.

I guessed that I would never find out unless she came back.

"_In fact I might just come and see how your doing in a few months, maybe then we pick up from where we left off". _

The memory was distorted but I remembered the words. Oh crap she was going to come back and do it again wasn't she, where would I wake up next time. Maybe I could stop her I mean that happened in the T.V show I just had to destroy that amulet she wore and like magic everything would go back to normal.

Still that meant surviving where ever the hell I was now, until she turned up. Better find out where that was to start with.

"This might sound a little crazy" I told Weaver "But I met a women and made a wish, that was the last thing I remember".

Weaver rubbed this moustache.

"Ah wish hmm, perhaps it was a genie. I haven't heard of anyone encountering a genie for many years now but if I remember the stories you must be very careful in what you wish for otherwise the genie will interpret your wish in the worse possible way" said the Guildmaster.

He paused for a moment before asking.

"What did you wish for, if you don't mind my asking?".

I couldn't remember what I had said but I told the bald headed man that I had wished for a life with more meaning, a life were I could make a difference.

"Well it seems that your genie did something right" said Weaver with a smile on his face "Your a Hero my boy and Albion needs heroes".

Albion wasn't that an old name for England in the legends about Merlin and King Arthur?. I wanted to ask about that and a lot more but I decided to hold on the questions and get something to eat.

"Is there a shop or something nearby I need some breakfast?" I asked.

Weaver chuckled.

"I'll have something sent up from the kitchens but for now I want to talk, please follow me".

Seeing no reason to disobey the man who had sheltered me, as if wanted to hurt me he could of while I was knocked out, I followed him into another room. This room was also full of heavily laden book shelves and the only other furniture was a wooden table and two simple chairs.

Gesturing for me to sit down on one of the plain wooden seats Weaver sat down and seemed to examine me for a few moments before speaking.

"Your a most unusual man, James"

Well he wouldn't be the first person to call me weird.

"Your clothing is like nothing I have ever seen before and I examined the devices you carried and they are like no magic I have seen before".

Wait magic. What did he mean by magic?, they were just a mobile phone and lighter nothing odd.

"While you slept I examined you and found that you carry the Blood of Heroes but your clearly not from Albion. I don't know what to make of this, what land are you from?".

Well I was born Wales but I doubted that meant anything to him but I might as well tell him anyway.

"I live in a city called London I moved there a few months for a job. But I've lived in a few places during my life. I was born in the capitol city of the country Wales its called Cardiff if that helps". I said trying to answer his question.

The answer meant nothing judging by his blank look on the old man's face.

"I've never heard of any of these places I'm sorry to say. It seems that your genie sent you far away".

Weaver left the room for a moment and spoke to what seemed to be a maid or serving girl of some sort which gave me a few moments to think

My head was still trying to cope with the idea that a fictional monster that sent me here. Still at least I hadn't panicked that would have been embarrassing, a panic attack wouldn't impress anyone. Now that I thought about it, it was a little odd that I was dealing with this so well. Maybe the whole culture shock thing would hit me later for now I seemed to be okay.

"Some breakfast will be sent up soon, for now I hope you will indulge an old man and answer some more questions".

Since he was feeding me I saw no reason not to.

"Sure what do you want to know?"

"Actually its more of a request really and an offer" said Weaver.

"As I said before I am the Guildmaster but that means nothing to you so I will explain. This is the Heroes' Guild a place where those born of certain bloodlines come to train in the hopes that they will, like their Hero parent or parents, become themselves Heroes. Normally one must be of these bloodlines but now and again someone like you appears who carries the power despite not having a Hero as a parent".

He made me sound like one of those Muggleborns in the Harry Potter books actually that might be what he means. Still if true it sounded cool.

Giving the matter some thought ,as it was clear that he was going to ask me to join up, I sat back and mulled over the idea. I had a few months to kill and I was a stranger in this land so it made sense to stick around.

Breakfast arrived and I examined the tray. The fare was simple. Buttered bread with honey spread on it, along with some fruit slices and nuts. It wasn't my normal coffee and toast but it smelled great.

"Tell me about these heroes?" I asked as I began to eat.

"The Heroes of Albion have long kept this land safe and civilized. For many years the Heroes who trained at this guild could only take on quests that were considered noble but this limited the choices heroes could make. After all one can not be moral unless they given the chance to test those morals and while some do turn to darkness there are always other heroes willing to do equal amounts of good thus bringing balance to this world".

Sounded like someone just wanted the option of earning more money but I wasn't a fit person to judge others as I was no bastion of goodness by any stretch of the imagination.

"Freewill is important" I said between consuming slices of apple.

Weaver seemed please that I agreed with this and I wondered if it was he who changed the Guild's policy on accepting less than heroic quests.

"Now normally we would only take you in if you were younger as it takes many years to learn how to become a Hero and most fail the training. But I think we can make an exception for you as you have great power and I know you will learn quickly" said Weaver.

I didn't really believe Weaver but it wasn't like I had anywhere to go

"Normally we charge a small fee for our services and later we take a small percent of the Heroes' earnings from quests but I would be willing to forgo the fees in exchange for you telling me about your world. Tales of a far off land would fill many a book and I'm sure you have many tales to tell that bard's would pay handsomely for".

Well that sounded quite fair, which made me a little suspicious, but I had nothing else to offer.

"Sure that sounds good" I said casually.

Weaver smiled and said. "Good we will start your training this afternoon after a tour of the guild".

**Albion Heroes' Guild. Two Months Later. **

The guild was rather impressive considering its lack of modern facilities. I'd even got my own room something most apprentices didn't have. Which was good as I was somewhat of a night owl and I spent many a night reading the endless supply of books this place seemed to have. These books slowly painted me a picture of the world I had found myself in.

Despite being called Albion this wasn't England. There wasn't anything in the history books here that reminded me of my own world. This meant that I had to be on another world, unless all the history books here were wrong and I doubted this much information could be faulty.

Finding myself on an alien world didn't bother me that much as I had no real desire to return to my old life. It had been rather depressing really and this was somewhat of an adventure. So I made an effort to fit in and worked hard hoping that the days would pass me by quickly and that soon this would be my life.

I also discovered that I was in fact inside a video game called Fable, either that or this world was the bases for the game. Either possibility raised a lot of questions and while either option might seem impossible this was all clearly real. Or at least as real as a Vengeance Demon could make it.

That raised even more questions because it meant that Buffy's world was real as well, but how had a Vengeance Demon arrived in my world? I was pretty sure that they were made up too. Perhaps when she checked up me as promised I would find out.

Still once I figured out that this was indeed the setting for Fable I realised just how lucky I had been. Albion was filled with bandits and dangerous creatures such as werewolves (not that they were called werewolves here) and a nasty goblin like creatures called Hobbs.

I could of easily fallen victim to one of the less friendly locasl. Of course given that I had the Blood of Heroes' ,whatever that meant, I doubted my arrival here at the Guild was by chance.

Aside from reading I'd also spent some time training. Turns out that Weaver knows what he is talking about. I'd only been here for a couple of months and I'd already gone from being barely being able to hold a sword to being able to duel the instructors to the point were I'd actual won a few practice sessions. Of course I knew that in a real battle I would properly get my ass handed to me but as the old saying goes practice makes perfect.

I could also do a bit of magic. Every magic using Hero learns the spells in a different order as he or she progresses but I could already throw a mean fire ball and I'd even shot the odd lightening bolt. It would properly take me a few more weeks to master that spell but considering that some Will users take years to get that far I'm doing very well.

On the down side I can't fire a crossbow or a rifle to save my life. I'm okay with a pistol I can even use two at the same time but they only have flintlocks here and there a bugger to reload. Shame really if I had a couple of 9mms I'd be a right menace

Still I knew that it would very unlikely that I would master all three Hero disciplines ( those being Strength, Skill and Will). I might only truly master one. But so far I showed at least some skill in all three branches of training even if I couldn't shot anything bigger than a pistol or lift a war axe.

Of course I wasn't training so hard just to pass the time. I knew that sooner or later Jack of Blades would attack the Guild and if I wasn't prepared then I would surely die.

The Hero of Oakvale (the PC of this game world) had been missing for six months now and was properly Jack's prisoner. I was pretty sure that the Hero would escape and defeat Jack but that wouldn't happen for a while. And as for Jack well...

_An ancient evil, Jack of Blades once ruled Albion as part of the Court before his defeat at the hands of William Black. However, Black was only able to destroy Jack's physical form, and his spirit lived on in his Mask. He continued his reign of terror by possessing any being unfortunate enough to put his mask on. _

This piece of text confirmed my worries about Jack. When I had played the game so many years ago I hadn't realised that Jack wasn't just a powerful Hero, he was in fact some sort of horror from the Void. He was part of a group of extra dimensional creatures called The Court that had once ruled Albion.

Sounds like something H.P. Lovecraft would come up with.

Still Jack wasn't invincible, he'd been killed before but if anyone wore his mask they would become Jack's new host body allowing the monster to live again. So if I ever got the chance I would destroy that mask.

Well thank god I wasn't the hero of this story. If I had been I would of gotten myself killed fighting this guy. The demon had said that she would give me a fair chance and by putting me on the side lines I had a chance to survive this world. Plus I was gaining some nifty super powers so it wasn't all bad. I might not stand a chance against Jack but if I trained hard enough I might just survive the attack on the Guild.

Of course Jack Of Blades isn't likely to try and kill me. No I only have to worry about his minions. The most common type are called Wardogs which were bred by the guards of the Old Kingdom and made to attack intruders. Given how viscous these creatures are it makes me wonder what sort of threats the Old Kingdom had faced.

If I remembered right there would also be Dreadwings a kind of spell casting minion which tended to attack from a distance so it was worth while to learn more spells too. Another good reason to sleep less and read more, thankfully I didn't seem to need much sleep any more.

Oh and yeah Hollow Men, lots and lots of Hollow Men. Not that this worried me. Hollow Men weren't that hard to destroy if you can lob fireballs about. Plus I had even found a spell that let you summon those undead warriors allowing the caster to create Hollow Men and command them. That would be handy.

But I was getting ahead of myself now. I had along way to go before I would doing spell work on that level. So hopefully I would have a few more months of peace and quiet before I had to go into action. As long as I could stay here and study I was sure that things would work out well for me.

I'd be fine as long as I didn't have to go and do any stupid quests.

**Albion Heroes Guild. One Month Later. **

"You seem to have learned everything I can teach you" commented the robed instructor as I successful destroyed another training dummy with a powerful ball of fire.

"I'm sure you can teach me a lot more spells" I said.

The robed man shook his head.

"You are already more powerful than I am, and I don't think the other instructors can teach you much more. Your a Hero that is certain but our methods of training won't allow you to progress any further. You need some practical experience".

Well I suppose that would be a good test of what I had learned but on the other hand I had only been here three months. Granted I had learned a lot but really I had expected the training to take years not mere months.

"I doubt that" I said to the instructor "I'm not that good with a sword and I find crossbows really cumbersome".

The less said about the rifles the better. Muskets were a pain the ass to fire and I couldn't afford anything better. Still at least I was a good shot with the pistol.

Although I don't remember there being guns in the first Fable game. Hadn't they only used crossbows? Oh well I suppose it didn't really matter as long as the events of the game went as expected and if I was in some alternative version then I would just survive as best I could.

"Your no master swordsmen its true" admitted the trainer "but you don't need to be a fencing champion, as you'll find that bandits and highwaymen aren't either. As for shooting well you move fast enough to avoid getting shot".

That much was true. I had discovered early on that you don't have to dodge bullets when you can simple not be where the gunmen is aiming. It also helped that the guns in this world were crude things that needed reloading after a single shot.

On Earth were automatic weapons are common place so those sort of tricks would be far less effective but here being able to move faster than most other men could react really helped.

"Go and see the Guildmaster" instructed the instructor. "Weaver will set up a suitable test for you, and then you go on your first quest. That is assuming you don't die horribly during the testing".

Morbid much.

I found Weaver in the map room. Despite the small smile he sent my way I could tell that something was wrong. He was worried about something and I guessed that it had something to do with this whole Jack business. Perhaps it was for the best that I might move on soon. Taking an easy quest that would get me away from this place for a few days which was starting to seem like a good idea.

"Are you ready for the final test so soon, James?" asked the Wizard.

I nodded and he told me to follow him out into the woods that were part of the lands owned by the Guild.

**Woods Outside The Guild**.

The small forest was much darker than the rest of the grounds due the thick branches of the trees which blocked out a lot of the sunlight. These woods also had a somewhat eerie feel to them which felt somewhat like when the instructors used magic only more widespread more diffused as if the whole place had a spell cast upon it.

Suddenly there was a blast of purple and then I was surrounded by what seemed to be the ghosts of oversized bugs. So Weaver had cast the Summon Creature Spell which brought forth the spirits of creatures that died in this place.

Normally the ghosts of a giant bug wouldn't worry me but there were a lot of them and they were all heading right for me. Not wanting to set the place alight with fireballs I started zapping the insects with lightening bolts, normally these bolts would only shock and stun my targets but it seemed that the conjured creatures were vulnerable to magic.

Many of the purple ghosts faded away after being struck but there were a lot of them and they were getting closer.

From my belt I pulled out my sword, which was a sharp iron blade made a little rusty with age, but it still did its job which was to slash and whack at the ghostly creepy crawlies. Moving with speed greater than most humans could manage I destroyed the summoned creatures and the woods became quiet again.

But not for long. The spell was recast only this time the bugs were flying ones. Sadly for them they didn't last long as I had gotten very good at casting lightening bolts. The stinging insects never got a chance to inflict any damage on me before they were banished from whence they came.

Well if that was the test it was a little to easy.

Then balls of streaking white light filled the air and drove themselves into the ground. I was familiar with this effect it was happened just before a bunch of Hollow Men appeared. The ground shook and out of it came, yep I had guessed right, a group of three Hollow Men. Only three that was good, three I could deal with.

Risking a forest fire I took out the undead monster closest to me with carefully aimed fireballs. The animated skeleton fell apart quickly under my assault but I couldn't repeat the the tactic as the other two had gotten close.

I lifted my sword and grabbed my pistol firing a shot at one Hollow Man knocking him back long enough to focus my attentions on the Hollow Man with a large axe.

I easily ducked under the undead's clumsy swing a swiped at him with my sword knocking rib bones lose. The skeleton swung again this time getting its axe stuck in a tree. Had the blow hit me I'd of been killed or at least knocked down but this monster was just to slow and was still trying to free its weapon when I finished it off with a pistol shots to the head.

The last Hollow Man standing wielded two cleavers and went straight for the kill. I blocked both blows and without knowing why I used dropped the pistol and cast a spell. This wasn't a fireball or a lightening bolt no this spell sent the Hollow Man flying into a tree hard enough to shatter the undead creature sending its bones flying in all directions.

So that was the Push spell then. Wicked.

Then I felt something grab my shoulder and I reacted by bringing my blade around and removed the grasping arm of the Hollow Man whose head I had removed. The arm went flying and I finished the last Hollow off by bashing it with my sword until not much was left.

Then there was a lot of clapping. A group of robed men led by Weaver came into view with smiles plastered on their faces.

"You have past the test lad, now you just need a Hero name" said Weaver.

I'd actually given this some though.

"My name is Gothic" I declared. "Call me Gothic".

**Albion. Wilderness. **

You never really appreciate how easy the Fable games make it until you have to wander around Albion without being shown the way by a handy stream of golden light. No I had to navigate using a old hand drawn map and a compass that hopefully pointed north.

But lacking that golden trail to follow I had gotten well and truly lost. Even with the compass.

Normally I had a great sense of direction thanks to my childhood wanderings during the summer holidays. But as this wasn't my world so I had gotten lost, really lost. There wasn't a single sign of civilization anywhere.

Well I refused to die out here so I'd decided to follow the river figuring that since people needed water there was bound to be some settlement along the river bank or better yet a boat heading towards Bowerstone which had been my original destination.

Thankfully by body clock works well and I was pretty sure that I was still only a couple of hours travel from the Heroes' Guild which meant I had a good chance finding somewhere as the Guild was slap bang in the middle of Albion.

At least it was nice and sunny today, it had been raining like it had been this morning my resulting bad mood would of made this situation even more miserable.

After what felt like about a quarter of an hour I finally found another human being, two actually and I was very glad to see them but they were even more glad to see me. The man and woman , a married couple judging by the gold rings they wore, ran over to me and started talking at the same time.

"Hey calm down, one at a time" I said while trying to understand what they were talking about.

The couple both stopped talking and I asked the man to speak as the woman had started crying.

"Oh you've got to help us!" shouted the man. "Its our son he's run off into the... cave".

Somehow he made the word cave sound like it was another way of saying Gateway To Hell. It was rather impressive how much dread and fear he was able to fit into that single word.

"Well why don't you just go in and get him?" I asked not seeing what the big deal was.

Sure the cave looked all spooky and dark but it was just a hole in the side of a cliff.

"Well we would" explained the man "but its full of Hobbs and we aren't even armed".

"But your a Hero!" cried the woman.

Right so side quest them, well I can handle this. Hobbs are just like Goblins after all even with that story about them once being children. Wait hadn't this happened in Fable 2 with some kid named Joey?. Oh well I better go and save this boy. I am a Hero after all.

"Fine, stay here I'll be back with your kid assuming he's still alive".

The woman dropped to her knees and renewed her crying. I hadn't meant to hurt her feelings only to try and prepare for the worst. They really ought to teach you how to deal with this part of the job at the Guild, but for some reason there is no class on reassuring people that there loved ones will be okay.

Deciding that my time would be better spent actually trying to rescue the kid rather than comforting the parents I headed into the cave.

Taking out my sword I wished once again that I had been able to afford one of those nice steel katanas rather than having to use a rusty iron blade. While I might not be that strong, at least compared to some of the other Heroes in training, I was quite fast so a katana would suit me better than this oversized lump of rusting metal.

Ah well maybe these Hobbs will have something I could use.

The way ahead was well lit thanks to torches lining the walls so I made good time heading deeper and deeper underground. I encountered no Hobbs so I went even deeper assuming that the monsters were waiting in ambush at some dead end.

Turned out that I was right ,it was an ambush but not in the way I had expected. Across a chasm stood , or possibly floated it was hard to tell, three shadowy figures. They spoke to me but the words didn't seem to come from the them. It was more like that they came from the walls around me.

"_The sacrifice approaches". _

The voice of Admiral Ackbar entered my mind "It's a trap!"

"I'd told you he would fall for it" said a familiar female voice. "They always do".

I turned on the spot and saw the married couple but they now wore black robes and carried deadly looking daggers.

"Your right dear" admitted the husband "As always".

"The Shadows will enjoy a Hero sacrifice" said the Wife "They will reward us greatly for this".

"They must be tried of kidnapped villagers and the lost odd child by now" added the Husband.

"Sick Bastards" I muttered feeling my rage rising at the idea of children being sacrificed.

The two married shadow worshippers started to move towards me their cruel looking blades eager to spill my blood.

"Have you two ever even met a Hero before?" I asked coldly as I raised my blade.

"No" admitted the woman "But I don't think we'll have any trouble with you. Everyone knows that all those stories about you guys are just made up by the Bards".

I smiled. Oh these two had no idea what they were dealing with and I got to educate them.

I lashed out with a fire ball which was fuelled by the rage I towards these people and the female shadow worshipper was cremated by the fire . The man, upon seeing is beloved wife killed screamed in anger and charged me. I side stepped kicked him in the back and sent him screaming head first in the chasm below.

"Well that was easy" I said to no one.

To the untrained and unaware those two had properly been quite dangerous but to someone who knew how to fight they had been pests at most. And such pests had to be removed.

Hearing an odd noise I turned just in time to see the Shadows faded away and saw that behind where they had been there was a Demon Door. If I could open it I might find some cool hidden treasure.

Wanting to get a better look I went over to the edge of the chasm and looked to see if I could make the jump. But I wouldn't need to as there was a bullseye Flit Switch. Knowing how to work these I took out my pistol and fired it. My aim was good and the Flit Switch moved entering a stone pillar.

The cavern shook and a stone bridge appeared allowing me to cross over and examine the Demon Door. And as I expected the magical doorway came to life and spoke.

"Oh thank goodness" said the door sounding like he (or should that be it?) really meant it. "Those ghastly shadows have been stopping anyone from talking to me for years. Now I am free once more to make unreasonable demands of travellers so that I will do what a door should do and open for them. But since you are the one that rescued me me I will simply open for you and let you what's inside. Whatever it happens to currently be".

I was surprised by how easy this was and commented on that.

"Really your just going to let me in" I stated in surprise.

The door seemed to consider this for a moment.

"I suppose I should make some effort to bar your way. Hmm how about a riddle I spent a few months thinking up some good ones in order to pass the time. Yes if you answer three riddles I'll you in".

Me and my big mouth I couldn't of just said thanks and gone in could I. No I had to make even more work for myself.

The door cleared what passed for its throat and gave me the riddle.

_If this this crime attempted... shame on thee! But if this crime committed... thou shall be free!_

I gave this some thought. What crimes could you attempt but not be charged for if you were successful.

"How many guesses do I get?" I asked the door.

"Three for each riddle" it answered."and take your time I'm not going anywhere".

"Is it escaping prison" I guessed figuring that an escaped convict is free at least until he is recaptured.

I was wrong and had two more guesses.

I thought for a while and then it clicked. Killing yourself. Attempted suicide was a crime, although I never understood why as people should be able to kill themselves if they really want to, but if you succeed you faced no punishment as your dead.

"The answer is suicide" I said solving the first of three riddles.

The next riddle was in form of a question.

_Tear one off and scratch my head, what once was red is black instead. Now what am I?_

Thank god for my Batman DVD collection. This was one of the riddles used by the Riddler in Batman Forever.

"A match" I answered.

The third riddle was a little tougher.

_My first is in ocean but never in sea, my seconds in wasp but never in bee. My third is in glider and also in flight, my whole is a creature that comes out at night._

First what? I wondered I had no idea so I thought about creatures that came out at night. There were a limited number after all but I only had three guesses. So what was it. Wait maybe the name was spelled out in the riddle. Lets see there are three lines so that meant three letters right. Owl maybe. Ocean, Wasp and Glider take away the G and the last became Lider which start with an L. .

"Owl" I tried.

"Yes that's right" said the Demon Door. "And as promised I open. While I am gone I better think up a few hundred harder riddles in case the next Hero is as smart as you".

I doubted that as most Hero were better at hitting things than figuring them out.

Soon the door opened and I stepped through the swirly funky covers to find myself inside a barn. Okay that's weird I thought but as I knew what I was looking for I moved on quickly seeking out a chest.

There was only one other building in this 'farm' so I went over to it and tried the door. The door to the building was jammed good and solid however I wasn't going to let a simple block of wood bar my way. I jammed my sword into the gab between the door and the frame and used it like a crowbar to force open the farm house's door. This bent my blade out of shape so I tossed it aside.

Oh well hopefully the chest I was seeking was full of gold so I could buy a replacement. Even without the sword I wasn't defenceless so no big loss.

I walked into the building and saw the chest with my promised reward. It better be good after I went to all this trouble. Even enough gold to by a steel sword would be nice.

Opening it I looked into the chest and realised that I wouldn't need to buy a replacement weapon after all. As there was a nice looking sword already waiting for me. Seemed a bit convenient to me but magical swords were a treasure item and if this was one of those legendary weapons then it would be well worth the effort.

I picked up the sword and took it out of its black leather scabbard. The blade was a longsword which could be used in one or two handed fighting styles and looked evil but in a cool way.

"Your a thing of beauty" I muttered to the blade.

"Thanks" replied the sword in a feminine voice. "Your not to bad looking yourself".

In shock I dropped the sword.

"Hey careful there big boy, I bruise easy!"

**Part Six. The Demon Blade. **

**Albion Wilderness.**

"So your sure this is the way?" I asked for the third time since leaving the spooky cave and the Demon Door behind.

Having to trust a possessed blade didn't sit well with me but I was stuck in the middle of nowhere so I no other choice but to trust this talking sword and hope for the best.

"Don't worry handsome I won't steer you wrong, just keep heading east and you'll be fine. I can sense souls and there are a lot of them east of here so its properly a town or a small city".

Despite the demon's assurances I was going to keep my wits about me in case it was leading me into a trap. If I hadn't broken my last sword I would of thrown this one down into the bottomless chasm as soon as it confessed to being a succubus.

Still after a long silence I felt the need to talk even if I might regret it later.

"So how did you end up being trapped in a sword?" I queried

The Demon Blade sighed.

"Oh you know the usual. I was sleeping with this Warlock so he wouldn't banish me back to my Hell. But he met this nice Elf girl and she wasn't the sharing type so the Warlock tried to banish me. Well I didn't react to that very well to that and reached for the sword your now carrying. Next thing you know I'm inside the blade and being thrown out of one universe and into another".

I almost felt sorry for her.

"Its not so bad really" said the demon. "I've had a lot of fun consuming life force. That's why the Shadows were guarding the demon door, I'm one of the few weapons that can really kill them rather than just banish them for a while".

"How does feeding on life force kill Shadows there not really alive, are they?"

The demon paused for a while before explaining.

"There not alive in the same way you are but all living things have life force even they don't have souls. I can suck on that energy and leave anyone you stab as a lifeless husk".

Well that sounded really nasty and I could see why the Shadows would want to keep a weapon like that where they could keep an eye on it.

"Your not going to drain me are you?" I asked worried.

"Sweetheart if I could I would of as soon as you picked me up" assured the demon "I was in that chest for centuries. I'm just hoping that you'll feed me soon".

"Why didn't you starve to death?" I questioned.

"I'm not sure I can" explained the creature "The Warlock bound me to this sword pretty much forever. So I'm stuck here trying to make the best of my situation. Despite being horny as fuck!"

Way to much information there.

"I'd love to help with that" I lied "But your a sword so sex is off the table".

"You can" said the sword strapped to my back. "Just go find some nice girl and rape her. I can feed off sexual energy without hurting anyone".

"I'm not gonna rape anyone!" I shouted "What kind of monster do you think I am?".

The demon sighed

"Fine then just ravish some damsel in distress instead, its traditional after all and you are a Hero. A big strapping Hero with... . I mean go and ravish someone".

"Ravishing is raping" I pointed out. "Calling it by another name doesn't make it less of a crime".

She didn't say anything else but I could feel her sulk which was both depressing and creepy so after a while I gave in.

"Look when we get back to civilization. I'm sure there will be some barmaid I can chat up. Will that make you happy?".

She made a noise that could only be described as 'Squee'

Deciding to change the subject I asked.

"What's your name because I can't go around calling you demon".

Well I suppose I could but it would get confusing if I ended up fighting demons, which with my luck was bound to happen.

"Well I go by lots of names, like 'Fuck Yes' and 'Oh Yeah Baby' but you can call me Marlissa"

"Marlissa, that's a cool name". I said trying to ignore her other titles of address.

Before we could discuss anything else someone suddenly jumped down from a tree and pointed a crossbow at me.

"Your money and your life!" shouted the black clad highwaymen.

"Isn't that suppose to be, your money or your life"'. I pointed out.

"Is it?, damn it sorry. I'm new at the job you see but I'm just going to shoot you anyway, so if you don't then I will just rob your corpse. So, hand over your money and then die!"

"But your suppose to say. 'your money or your life'" I argued "Its traditional".

"Is it?" asked the wannabe highwaymen " Sorry its my first day you see and I only read about this in a book . Still I thought I'd give it ago, its gotta be better than mucking out pigs".

Still slowly edging away I reached for my gun but the amateur crook reacted and fired his bolt.

I caught the bolt just in time to save myself a lot of pain judging by what it had nearly hit and I threw the bolt aside.

The bandit was gob-smacked as was I a little as I knew I was fast but I hadn't know that I was that fast. The junior highwaymen quickly tried to reload but I moved forward and withdrew my new sword from the scabbard on my back.

"Oh finally I get to eat!" Marlissa said screaming for joy.

The crook was clearly freaked out but not for long as I batted his crossbow aside and then drove Marlissa into the man's chest. I watched as his life force was drained away and he became a withered husk which looked like it had been dead for months.

"Oh yuck!" I called out. "If he hadn't been trying to kill me I'd so regret doing that".

Marlissa just made some odd panting sounds.

"That was so good" she said while starting to moan in pleasure.

Feeling a little grossed out by the whole thing I put the demon blade away and started walking again.

Soon I found Bowerstone and I entered the town my feet guiding me towards the local tavern without any actual effort from my brain.

"Beer" I said as I entered the Inn.

"Barmaids!" shouted the Succubus possessed sword.

Everyone turned and stared at me and I thought fast.

"Err I mean Barmaids bring me beer!.

Everyone laughed.

**Bowerstone Tavern. Dining Area. **

Sitting at the back of the tavern I drank warm ale which was horrible, and ate steak and kidney pie which was just yummy since it came with proper chunky chips rather than those god awful things Americans called fries.

But this dining experience was ruined by two things (other than the beer) my talkative new companion Marlissa ,a succubus demon who lived in my new sword, and a Bard who was currently signing about the Hero Of Oakvale.

Now I have nothing against the Hero Of Oakvale he's a nice bloke, but the last thing a guy wants while eating his pie and chips is to have to listen to some no talent hack sing about some great victory in the arena. Sadly assaulting the guy would properly just result it getting me kicked out as my opinion on his music wasn't shared by the locals.

"So are you going to chat up that barmaid yet, you know the one with the corset that actually does something for her" asked Marlissa.

I put down my clay cup half full of cheap booze.

"Okay first of all it's always business before pleasure, second of all she's called Betty and last of all yes I am going to chat her up" I replied.

I heard a whispered woohoo and I then realised that this was how demonic weapons actually corrupted heroes. It had nothing to do with the demon's evilness tainting good men nor were they led astray by promises of wealth and power . No the truth is that they were nagged into it by annoying hellspawn who never shut up.

"So what business do you have here?" asked the possessed blade.

With all the talking and merrymaking going on by the bar it was noisy enough to talk to Marlissa without drawing unwanted attention to myself.

"Nothing major as this is my first quest as an official Hero" I said by way of answer. "I just have to wait for the Guild's contact to arrive and he will give me a package to take back to the Guild".

"That doesn't sound like much of a quest" commented Marlissa with a snort.

"Yeah well given how sidetracked I got, I'm glad its such a simple quest" I replied.

A bard wandered over to me and for a moment I was worried that he would start singing at me but instead he quickly looked around before dumping a brown paper package on my table.

"Well that was easy" said Marlissa.

I put the small package inside my jacket pocket and pretended as if nothing had happened.

"So now will you go and chat up the barmaid?" asked my talking sword.

"Yeah as soon as I can think of something to say to her".

I really wasn't very good at that sort of thing but I needn't of worried.

"Oh don't worry about chat up lines" assured Marlissa. "One of my powers is that I make whoever wields me very sexually active".

That sounded cool.

"Huh, what else can you do?" I queried.

"You mean aside from making you super sexy, isn't that enough?. Well I can speak quite a lot of languages so I can act as a translator for you. I'll also stop minor demons from attacking you as long as they recognise my authority. And aside from those bonuses I've been around for a long time and I've been to many different worlds so I can act as a guide for you".

I had kind of been hoping for more. The whole life draining thing was however very cool as I was bound to encounter more of those Shadows at some point and being able to kill them was a very good thing.

"The blade I am stuck in is quite niffy too" added the Succubus. "Its enchanted to remain sharp without you having to clean or repair it and is really hard to break. Must be considering most swords don't last this long and I've been in here for a long time. Plus because it enchanted it will work on things normally immune to mundane weapons like ghosts and other spirits".

Well when it was put that way I go see why other Heroes put up this sort of thing. Perhaps I won't replace her with one of those legendary weapons they had in this world after all.

"Anyway" said the demon blade "enough about me go talk to Betty and I'll work my magic".

I hoped she didn't mean that literally.

**Bowerstone Tavern. Private Room. The Next Morning**.

Waking up I rolled over expecting to find Betty the Barmaid (which was her full name as only nobles tended to have surnames in this world) was gone. Checking my stuff I was glad to see that the trollop hadn't robbed me at least, perhaps she had simple gone to her own bed.

Looking around my rented room I quickly noticed that I wasn't alone after all. An old acquittance of man was sitting in the corner looking at a book about the history of Albion. She noticed that I was awake and spoke.

"Oh your up, sorry I didn't want to wake you so I just borrowed a book. This is a fun little world isn't I might stay here for a while and see what trouble I can stir up".

Reacting the way my training told me to I jumped out of bed and reached for my pistol. But the Demon just appeared next to me and knocked the weapon out of my hand.

I tried to cast a spell but she simple pushed me onto the bed.

"Naughty, naughty. That's no way to treat a lady".

"Your no lady" I pointed out.

She shrugged.

"Well I was once. I even had a family back then but my husband was never very successful although he tried to be. Drove him to drinking in the end then one night he got so drunk he hit me and I lost the baby I was carrying. Of course I got my own back in the end. I cursed him good and proper he ended up getting the wealth he wanted but at a terrible cost".

She was close to me very close and in a touchy feely mood.

"So I got this gig and have been ruining men by giving them just what they wanted. Then I ended up with this thing" she raised her hand to show that gold ring the one that had drawn my eye when we first met. "Now I can ruin men in any dimension I want to".

I then spied my sword which was lying on a nearby table in its scabbard.

"Even if you could reach it, it wouldn't do you any good" said the demon.

It was clear to me now that this Vengeance Demon wasn't done with me nor would she be until she ruined my life utterly. She might not want to do that right now but sooner or later she would lose whatever feelings of attraction she felt and destroy me. So I decided to destroy her first.

I grabbed her hips and pushed her onto the bed with me. Working hard to forget what her true face looked like I kissed her and let my hands move over her body. She gave a small moan and I began touching her breasts running a hand up her shirt. She might not be human, but right now she felt human as her breasts were so soft... No I had to make myself focus or I would get too aroused to do what I had planned.

I got on top of her using my heavier weight to pin her down, not that she seemed to mind this, and then my right hand stopped squeezing her breast. I grabbed her amulet, pulled it off and got off the bed quickly as possible rolling on the floor.

Grabbing the pistol the demon had knocked out of my hand only moments ago I use it to whack the amulet expecting it break.

But it didn't.

The former human turned demon laughed and said.

"I visited an interesting world that has some powerful magic users living in it. Now my amulet is charmed to be unbreakable so unless you have a magic weapon around then that won't work. Points for effort though, not many people know that a Vengeance Demons power centre is in their amulet".

I smiled and shot my unwanted guest sending her off the bed. Moving fast I grabbed my sword and pulled Marlissa out her scabbard.

"You mean a magical weapon like this" I said with a cruel smile.

"Abellana!" shouted my demonic sword.

"Marlissa!" screamed the Vengeance Demon.

"So you two know each other then?" I asked but was ignored.

Both female demons began screaming for joy and talking way to fast for most people to keep up with. I could since I had two little sisters and knew what to expect.

"Oh my goodness" screeched Abellana "I haven't seen you since Rome fell. Do you remember when we hit on those two Visigoths and got them to set those vestal virgins on fire. Oh gosh when was that?".

"Properly about 410 AD" I added helpfully, but was ignored again.

The two girls err well demon girls chatted for a bit until I got fed up and raised my blade to smash the amulet.

"Hey don't smash that!" cried Abellana "Here I'll give you the ring you can go home then and I'll stay here".

I thought about it for a moment but my mind was made up. I already had one demonic babe in my life and two was one to many. Actually one was one to many but Marlissa I could deal with if I let this demon live she would properly find a way to ruin my life and the whole stalking me across dimensions thing was creepy on so many levels.

"Okay give me the ring" I said.

Abellana threw the ring to me and I caught it.

"Okay now just step away from the amulet" she said with some pleading in her voice.

"Nah you should just kill her" suggested my sword. "Even if you make her human again she's still a witch and she properly has some friends who can get her home. D'Hoffryn might even restore her powers and then you'd have a pissed off Lower Being coming after you".

"Marlissa!, how can you say that. We use to be lovers!" cried Abellana.

"It was two thousand years ago!" shouted Marlissa "get over it and die!".

I felt a strong urge to throw my possessed weapon and did so. My demon blade soared through the air and entered Abellana's body pinning her to the wall and I watched as the life was drained out of her.

"She was a terrible Vengeance Demon anyway" commented the trapped Succubus. "I mean how is it vengeance if your just grant the wishes of loser guys who want to be rich and famous. Who exactly are you getting vengeance on that way".

My blade ranted for a little while but I just ignored her until she got back on track.

"Now pick me up and smash the amulet" Marlissa commanded. "We don't want anyone in this world making wishes with it. Without a demon to decide which wishes to grant and how they play out things would get out of hand around here fast. I mean what if someone wishes for world peace, you'd be out of a job!"

I flirted with the idea of keeping the amulet and making a wish or two in order to see what happened but my companion seemed to think that was a bad idea. She could be right because if I used the word wish without thinking it through I could really screw things up.

"You and I are going to have words about who is charge here" I grumbled as I picked up the magical weapon and smashed the amulet.

It had no noticeable effect. I guessed that only the last wish made was undone by the act because I wasn't back in my old life. Not that I was sad about that of course.

And anyway I had the ring now and if I could figure out how it worked there would be no end to the fun I could have. If this thing allowed the user to travel to other worlds I could go any where I liked. I could become really powerful and rich thanks to this shiny bit of metal.

"If I might make a suggestion" said Marlissa. "If your going to travel the multi-verse you best get some better clothes and perhaps you should upgrade your equipment. Some worlds are far more dangerous than this one".

"Fine" I said. "let's go and get me some new stuff".

"That's my second favourite activity" informed Marlissa.

No need to guess what the first one was but I didn't know the second.

"What is?" I asked. "Upgrading equipment?".

"No" replied the demon blade with an excited voice. "I mean SHOPPING!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Some more author notes for this chapter. **

**Emperor Gothic, Hero Gothic and Overlord Gothic are alternative universe versions of myself rather direct self inserts so they will be different in some ways. **

**Hero Gothic will mix sci fi and fantasy were as Overlord Gothic will stay out of sci fi because he's rubbish with advanced technology and Emperor Gothic who doesn't go to fantasy worlds because he has no magic. **

**Also Fable Heroes don't have to be nice people but Hero Gothic isn't a villain so much as a hero whose willing to bend his morals to get the job done. A anti-hero I suppose. **

**All three Gothics will be kept apart as Overlord Gothic has been to lots of worlds and its hard to keep track of everything so Hero Gothic if he goes to magic worlds will be in alternate version and will noticeable alternate form the Overlord ones. **

**And last of all this chapter is Wizarding World centred but not all of them will be its just where he is living for now. **

**Hero Gothic. Book One. Part Two.**

**New York Shopping Mall. Zombie Overrun Earth. Date Unknown. **

When Marlissa the succubus trapped in the magical blade I'd picked up the in back end of no where had suggested going shopping this wasn't what she'd had in mind but I lacked money and had no desire to start my careerer as a dimension hopping hero by robbing anyone.

Well hero might be to strong of a word for what I was planning to become. I had no intention of running around in a cape and tights trying to catch bad guys. That would be rather pointless and I didn't have the legs for tights.

Personally I'd never seen the point of what most heroes do, they catch the crook and he goes to jail maybe a few get get scared straight but mostly a short time later the crooks with the weird powers or whatever breaks out of jail and goes on a rampage and/or crime spree. People die there's massive property damage and the hero stops the villain once again.

And even the universes were heroes kill the bad guys you just ended up facing an even bigger evil next time.

It all seemed so pointless.

Or maybe it wasn't and it was just this world depressing the hell out of me. Zombies of some sort or other had wiped out humanity on this world so it was devoid of human life. This had sent Marlissa into a welcome mood of self enforced silence.

The lack of souls on this world meant that she had no one to corrupt, which is the point of existing for her kind of demon, and the magic was dulled here as well as while magic doesn't require people to exist if there is no one around to use it, its get stagnant. Sort of like a sea without a current, its still there but there are no waves.

I hadn't been using magic that long and my uses of it were rather crude and direct so I wasn't as yet that well attuned to it but even if I could feel the wrongness of this place on both a physical and spiritual level. It wasn't just devoid of people it was devoid of purpose as well.

I hadn't seen as much as rat around here and the clothes I was looking through seemed to perfectly intact as if time had no real meaning any more. This world was dead and pointless.

With that in mind I decided to get out of here as soon as possible as I knew what would happen if I stayed here to long. I would go mad I was sure of it.

Law and law only matter if there are people around to enforce laws and make use of an orderly society. Which meant as I loaded my backpack with black t-shirts I wasn't stealing because this stuff belonged to no one.

Also there was no problem with me smashing my way into a store that sold guns as you can't vandalise property here as property is owned by someone. Normally what I was doing would be called looting but now it was more like salvaging.

Also I was rather amazed to find a gun store in a shopping mall I didn't think these sort of things would be sold were families would of hung out, but this was an alternate Earth so maybe the gun laws had been more relaxed here for whatever reason.

I ignored the rifles as I was awful with them. Until becoming a Fable Hero I'd been a little sort sighted and despite losing that disability I still couldn't make a decent shot over distance. Which annoyed me because there were so many problems out there in the multi-verse that could be solved with the use of a sniper rifle.

But I remembered that Fable Heroes tend to to develop most of their powers and skills after doing lots of quests. The months of training I undergone at the Heroes Guild was nothing more than a solid foundation to build upon, just because I couldn't hit a target across a field now didn't mean that this would always be the case.

For now however I'd stick the closer ranged weaponry. I was rather good with pistols I'd even learned to shoot two at once, although having to reload after every shot had been a pain. Guns were still quite basic in Albion and more advanced models wouldn't be made until the end of the Guild's existence. In fact more powerful firearms would be the reason for its end assuming history played out correctly.

I could of perhaps saved the Guild but that might of messed up future events like Sparrow becoming King after stopping the insane Lord Lucien. Which might in turn prevent Sparrow's son from becoming the King needed to do what Logan couldn't and stop the Crawler. It was tempting to get involved in those events myself but the Band I wore only allowed travel between realities, it didn't allow for time travel.

I could however ask for a dimension were certain events were happening but when I did that I became part of that time line and couldn't just leave and come back at different point in time. Instead I'd have to go a different version of that dimension if I wanted to see its past or far future. I'd already tested this out by trying to return to my Earth at the point I'd left, it didn't work. I'd arrived months after I'd left to find I was evicted from my flat and therefore homeless.

I loaded up the bag I carried with a couple of 9mm pistols which despite being more advanced than what I was use to they weren't that hard to figure out. A gun is a gun after all even if the ones used on modern day Earth's are more refined.

I also took a shotgun as those are short range and very lethal. Perfect if some big ass monster gets in your face. Because if you fire one of these things it won't have face for long. I grabbed some extra shells just in case it was a very big ass monster.

I also took a silver six-shooter as that would blend in better if I ever went to a world populated by cowboys. Odd looking clothes were one thing but if I let a modern day firearm fall into the hands of people still using simple revolvers it might damage their development.

Plus weighing myself down with guns wouldn't be a great idea it would hamper my moves.

A knife wouldn't so I took something that looked like army surplus and strapped it to my ankle like I had been taught to do. This allowed you pull the knife out of the strap when crouched down or even in a forward roll, ready to thrown or for hand to hand.

Realising that I wouldn't be able to carry much more and that there would be no food around fresh enough to eat, aside from tinned goods, it was time to get out of here and go back to the Guild.

I stopped myself from opening the door that appeared to take me back to Albion. That might not be the best place to go to. They had hard times ahead it was best to stay out of the way. But where else could I go?. I needed to find somewhere to live, somewhere big so I could stash my trophies and treasure there.

I didn't see any good reason to become a hero other than wealth so I might as well do it for cash rewards and xp that could be earned. That was after why Fable Heroes existed, they sold their skills for profit and became more powerful that way. If I didn't want to fight the bad guys for the sake of good then I needed another reason to motivate myself into action. Power and wealth seemed to be enough.

I also planned to gather lots of weapons and equipment that would aid me in my plan to travel the multi-verse and save the day while making a profit of it. There were lots of useful things out there I could acquire and I'd take many of them just for the sake of owning them.

I could easily take an empty palace or mansion on this world as no one was using them but I didn't like this place very much, but some remote location would still be best. A big but forgotten place no one would find but one that also didn't need much caring for as I had no staff to serve me, well not yet anyway. Getting staff wouldn't to hard I just needed money to pay them with and a place to have serving in.

I paced around the large mall trying to think. I really wished... no best not to use that world. But it would have been better if I could of planned this all out in advanced as the problem with being able to go anywhere was that you have to much choice. How do you pick one place out everywhere in existence?.

Maybe I was going about this the wrong way, rather than try to find a suitable place to live perhaps instead I could think where I would want to live and then make it suitable. I had great magical powers that just needed unlocking so perhaps a magic world like Harry Potters would be best as I might fit in better there as it was full of strange people already.

It would also be convenient because the Muggle world there had technology not that far behind my own world's. Meaning I could enjoy many of the luxuries I was use to while still living in a world I freely practice magic in.

There were lots of other magic worlds out there many even with the mundane existing right along side it but I knew the Wizarding World quite well and I was just looking for a home it wasn't as if I would get involved in events.

Plus they had that charm to hide entire buildings making them inaccessible to anyone who didn't already what was being hidden. So I could just learn that spell , or maybe hire someone else to do it, and then have a big place hidden from sight, a place I could store my things and live in comfort.

I should really go to world were I could pick up some quests and gain experience but I didn't have to live on that world that was the beauty of having the Band of Blacknill.

Also I could always just move home later if the Wizarding World didn't work out and it wasn't such a bad world for a Fable Hero to live in as while I didn't want to do magic by waving a stick around they had other magic there.

Potions for example and I could learn to enchant objects, that could be handy. There were better worlds to learn magic from but they weren't as nice to live in so working on those worlds and living in the Wizarding one made sense.

With that decided finally I now had to decide when I would arrive. There were many different versions of even a single theme (theme being the word I used to describe the setting of fictional worlds so a Harry Potter themed world doesn't have to be the one in the books or movies) sticking close to the movies would be a good idea as while the books were better than the films, the films gave you a better idea of what things actually looked like.

I then thought about Marlissa and what she'd told me about the powers I could access as her wielder. She was more than just a talking sword. She was a demon put into a very powerful magical blade. Finding her had been very lucky as with her I might still be the plaything of a Vengeance Demon.

Not only was the weapon itself a powerful tool it also allowed me to tap into the abilities of sex demon making me a Incubus in human form. Marlissa hadn't realised this until she tried to help me seduce a barmaid back in Albion but now that she did know I was now an Incubus in a mortal body.

In fact it was even better than that because I didn't have to worry about draining people's life force when having sex but I still got the power to enthral people.

This power had limits of course, free will is a tricky thing and hard to mess with. I could only enthral women (or gay men for that matter) if they would naturally be attracted to me. It didn't have to be a strong attraction as the point of a succubus's powers was to make that attraction more intense as the victim (for lack of a better word) needed to willingly have sex with the demon to become its plaything. I could make myself much harder to resit sleeping with but I could be resisted. But as long as any woman willingly spread her legs I could make her mine.

The other limit was about true love. An enthralled women could be snapped out of her enthralment by someone they had real love for. However I could remove people from their native universes making that far less likely to happen. It also helped that I would know who their true loves were most of the time.

People married in a holy union or even a unholy one were totally immune to being controlled like that and could easily resist attempts to seduce them via Marlissa's powers. It was still possible to seduce them by more normal mean but they wouldn't become enthralled.

There might be other limits given that I was human (well mostly human as Fable Heroes are from a bloodline that can be mixed with humans but clearly are more than mere human) but Marlissa didn't what they were.

She advised me also to stay away from other female sex demons because I was a male and I might not be immune to them just because I could use the same powers. She should be able to protect from equal or lesser demons but they were Succubus Queens out there far more powerful than her.

Putting a woman native to the world I was going to live in under my thrall would be a big help. I'd have a guide that world, someone who could teach its magic and a sex slave all in one package. But who to enthral?

If it was the movie version I was heading to then there was only one answer to this question. Hermonie Granger who would look like Emma Watson. What man could resit.

I'd have to skip the first few movies then as a Incubus couldn't enslave a female child not because it was immoral or yucky (which were both good reasons not to) but because the woman had to ready to be sexually active. There wasn't an age limit for this so as much a mental state for the girl in question, but she'd have to be seventeen or over otherwise she couldn't to magic freely.

Seventeen was fine with me as an age limit, eighteen would be better as that would make her an adult in the muggle world but by then she might be hiding in that tent for most of a year making her nearly impossible to get to.

She'd also be hard to get to at that school and I really had no desire to get involved with Hogwarts as while I could of gotten a job there as a teacher, quite easily as the Defence Against The Dark Arts Teacher, that wasn't really the kind of work I wanted to do.

Well actually would that wouldn't be such a bad idea?.

I knew enough about that world that I wouldn't need to study much to use a wand. I knew how to fight using magic and without it, and I could do with a job to earn regular income. I'd become part of that world and able to buy property legally and then just quit before the end of the school year which was nine months there about.

It also wouldn't stop me from travelling to other worlds to learn more because Hogwarts mimicked an English boarding school. Most weekends and half terms I wouldn't have to be about all the time and the holidays would be totally free time. I could open a door to another world from anywhere even inside Hogwarts I would bet.

There would older students about ready to leave school that year and be looking for jobs. I could hire them and then seduce them once they left school. Making sure that they kept the uniforms as while real schoolgirls did nothing for me it was fun when adult women dressed up and pretended.

What a load of weird thoughts to be having on a zombie infested planet.

But really what did I have to lose. If I didn't get the job so what. I could move on. I was pretty sure Dumbledore would take anyone over Umbridge and that would give me plenty of time to deal with Voldemort if I cared to.

That would give me a whole two years to seduce Granger I could have her under my thumb easily enough and then groom her as my right hand women. I'd wait for her to grow up before actually enthralling her but why not mould her a little first.

I was about to throw myself through the door leading to the school I wanted to work for when I realised that I was carrying a load of guns. I'd need to stash them somewhere as even a Wizard school would thrown on this many weapons even if they didn't see them as a threat.

I then cursed myself for a fool. I was a Fable Hero! There was already a place set up for me to stash my stuff and it would serve a good safe house if I needed to run.

I open another door and this open appeared as a lift which sometimes happened and took it to the Sanctuary. It took a while to get there compared to travelling between Albion and the zombie world and I had no idea why that was but the ride didn't take too long and I was soon where I wished to be.

**The Sanctuary. Location Unknown. Date Unknown. **

I had no idea where this place was or how it worked. The air was always clean but there were no signs of ventilation. There was also no where to sleep or a place to store or prepare food not even a bathroom. Clearly this was not a place to live and I wonder how Jasper in Fable Three had managed it. Perhaps the rules were different here than elsewhere. You might need to eat or sleep here.

Still it did need fixing up a little and a good clean. I'd have to get someone in here to tidy up, maybe a House Elf as if Jasper could run this place an Elf easily could.

I charged up a fireball while standing on the Cullis Gate waking it up (well reactivating it) and lit the torches on the wall with far less effort.

The place was full of cobwebs and dust but the air was good and the place seemed to be more well lit than the torches should allow. All the doors were closed but not locked and given the mess in here I didn't yet see the point in taking a look around. This was after all just a place to dump the stuff that wasn't suitable for a school.

I'd also use this place to travel from one world to another. It wouldn't be good idea to open doors to dangerous worlds directly while in a school because one student had a habit of following people around under a certain cloak and he might follow me through a door.

And there was always a small chance that I might let something in while trying to get out so using this place as a go between seemed wise.

I dumped everything below a shelf that would be used one day be used by Jasper to store gifts and looked at the map of Albion.

It was a wonder bit of magic this. You could use it to find people in need of a hero, well once you cleared the cobwebs away you could, and right now a few people around Albion did need help.

But I wasn't going to take quests away from the Hero of Oakvale he had an important job to me and me getting involved could easily do more harm that good. On the off chance he did fail I'd jump in and deal with Jack Of Blades as best I could but doing that wasn't my fate it was the Hero of Oakvale's job and having met him I can really say he's up to the task.

On that matter of inhuman horrors from other dimensions I reminded myself to pick up a Colt from Supernatural. I had a very clever idea on how to get one without messing up the history of that world. It had struck me that taking the gun during the times it was in use by the Winchesters might doom the world and the last it was seen was in the hands of Satan and I had no idea what he had done with it.

So being smarter than the average bear I figured why not ask Samuel Colt to simply make another gun.

My reasoning was that since he made one he could make another one or even two ore. And aside from expense there was no reason not to make a couple for me and show me how to make the bullets, even it was time consuming work I could make sure anything he needed doing was done. And if he needed a special part or something I could find it.

Any gun he made could kill a human so having more Colts wasn't really a danger to mankind and I could make good use of such a weapon. And having a spare was just logical.

But if I was going to pay for these guns I'd need money and likely lots of it. Gold would be best as it was high value for its weight accepted more places than Mastercard and looked pretty too. Okay I preferred silver over gold but for a trade item it was okay.

"So next problem where to get gold?" I asked myself out loud.

Marlissa having stopped being depressed decided now was the time to chip in and said.

"Not that I want to go back there but if everyone there is dead can't you just take their gold".

Sometimes I could be a real dumb ass.

I left my sword behind as zombies were better dealt with by bullets to the brain I emptied the backpack of clothing and left to check out some gold depositories. There must be billions of pounds worth of gold left gathering dust on that world, might as well make use of it.

**The Wizarding World. Gringotts. Start Of Order Of The Phoenix. Summer of 1996.**

Given that this society was in currently in deep an certain Egyptian river about Voldemort's return security wasn't that great around here. It was easy to get into the bank to be seen by what passed for the manager of new accounts and set myself up.

The Wizarding World was compared to its Muggle counterpart rather old fashioned and the system worked to allow the rich to do whatever they wanted to do. There were limits of course there was only so much you could do before even the ineffective magical government had to take action.

But if the public didn't see it, you could do it.

On my world what I was currently doing would land in prison if I got caught, here if I got caught I'd have to pay a fine. Money is good at making problems like that go away and I had a lot of money.

Well actually I had bars of gold but given that gold is used for money here its not hard to go from bars to coins. The service charge was high but I could just go and get more gold.

"Is it really this simple?" I asked the suit wearing Goblin.

"Yes" he replied simply

Well I assumed it was a he.

"Most people immigrate out of Britain" explained the creature once it realised I needed more than one word answers "that's a lot harder".

In the Muggle world they worried about to many immigrating into the country here they worried about to many people leaving. Its like a topsy-turvy mad house.

"Once I file the paperwork you'll have been born in this country as far as Gingotts and the Ministry are concerned. Since you were home schooled Mr. Thomas your lack of school records is explained. I've already written a letter to a retired tutor who will for a sum of gold swear he taught you everything you know".

Hogwarts wasn't cheap so home schooling was needed for a few people who couldn't afford it. Or in my fake case my ill mother needed her child close to help care for her after my fake father died.

Wizards kept everything on paper and not that well organised compared to the other parts of the human race. A file added to a pile might as well have been there all along. Once Dumbledore died and the government started going after muggleborns my fake past might not hold but by then it wouldn't matter.

"We'll need to give you a history" informed the Goblin manager of new accounts "many young wizards travel the world after finishing their education, you can have been one that simply kept travelling".

It was easy to fall off the grid if you were a Wizard, all you had to do was to travel and not come back for a while.

Also having a history of exploring would make me look more suitable for the job I was applying for as there are plenty of dark creatures around I would have had to have defended myself against. Not that it mattered really the only thing really standing in my way was Minister Fudge

That idiot wanted a spy at the school his spy was to be given the job I was going to apply for. I had to stop that from happening. The way easy would be to kill the Minster but that would really mess with events and I wasn't here to do that, at least not to that extreme.

Plus I wasn't sure if I could kill him because he might be a fool but he wasn't evil. Then again maybe he was just evil so it was tempting to kill him but on the other hand I just wanted a place to live, killing the head of state wouldn't be the best move to make in that case.

So kill Umbridge then, certainly a service to humanity that. She was evil no doubts about it and quite willing to torture children so I felt no mercy towards here. It would have to look like an accident as if I applied for a job she was promised and then she was murdered well Wizards weren't that lacking in logic.

Perhaps I should kill her and then drop by the school a couple of days later saying that I knew they went through teachers of that subject fast. That should get me the job, they'd hired Lockheart after all and he was just a bad writer.

Another course of action was to apply for the job and try and bribe Fudge, a bit risky but would keep blood of my hands. But then Umbridge really should be killed, for the sake of the children if nothing else.

"That will fine Accounts Manager" I said after thinking "I'm sure you know best what your doing".

We discussed a few other minor matters that would allow me to fit it and made more fake history. I didn't use my real name of course, here I would be known as Damien Mason. My family was new compared to the older Purebloods but had the wealth to make than unimportant. I wouldn't get invited the fancy parties but I would be dealt with politely by the toffs, above the rabble but not high enough to be a threat worth keeping an eye on.

It was tempting to become the sole living member of an old Pureblood family but that was impossible. The old families tracked their bloodlines and kept good records to ensure that they mostly ended up marrying their own cousins ( well not always) so adding an equally old family Wizarding Britain would be impossible due to their obsessions on genealogy.

The fact that my fake family wasn't on any of their family trees would be a big tip of that I wasn't who I said I was.

The middles classes were much larger, less focused on bloodlines and centred around running small but stable businesses. My families fortune would come from oversees trade that had ended operation two generations ago. This wasn't well kept track of unless it threatened a pureblood's business interests or was otherwise highly profitable and public like say broom sales.

"Thank you Account Manger" I told the Goblin as I left his office "enjoy the pay raise".

He better do it was coming out of my pocket.

**The Wizarding World. Knockturn Ally. Summer of 1996**

Planning out the death of Umbridge had taken a lot out of me , mostly because it had involved a lot of acting but also because I'd never murdered anyone before.

I'd killed people but they had been trying to kill me so that didn't count as murder, but this did. She might deserve to be murdered for the crimes she would commit with a smile on her face but she hadn't actually done them yet.

I didn't know if she'd done anything wrong in the past and I didn't know when she'd send the Dementors, so technical she was innocent.

I felt a little guilty and if her crimes to be weren't so horrible I wouldn't be doing this. But she had to go, she was in my way and a child abuser. That was something that really got me mad.

For that alone I might just have to kill the Dursely family. It was tempting to grab Potter and let his family wander into the soul eating Dementors, but I wasn't that cruel I'd just kill them.

Wouldn't be to hard I knew were Vernon worked and were Dudley went to school. Both of them dying even in accidents would raise alarm bells with Dumbledore but maybe just Vernon then it would be so easy for him to gunned down during a robbery gone wrong.

Or perhaps a simple car crash a Muggle way would be best I doubt the bloodwards worked to stop stuff like that if they were built around keeping Dark Wizards away.

I sighed and stopped myself. I wasn't here to play god deciding who lived and who died I was here to make myself a home so that I'd have a Bruce Wayne to be when I wasn't on other worlds being Batman.

Hmm Batman. I could be Batman I had the agility and speed for it. Granted I was trained to kill people not catch crooks but killing bandits and highwaymen isn't that different from killing modern day criminals. It would be harder due to the differences in weaponry but I could adapt.

A more lethal Batman, that was something to think about. Not in the DC verse of course the real Batman wouldn't but Marvel maybe, might be fun to mess with Spiderman and the Punisher was less likely to take it personally if someone mimicked him.

Deciding to think about that more later I looked over the newspaper in my hand as I sat at the table of the private room I'd rented for this meeting in some seedy pub in Knockturn Ally.

My plan of action was to lure Umbridge to a location under my control and kill her with poisoned wine. A quick death and then I'd dump the body on another world come back as myself and never drink polyjuice potion again. Its nasty stuff and not cheap to buy.

Currently I didn't look like myself but rather a middle aged muggle and was calling myself John Smith. Which actually worked as a fake name here.

I'd convinced Umbridge that I was out to court her (which is like dating for posh people and you didn't have to kiss) and now we are about to have a romantic date.

My hope was that if we both just vanished people would assume we'd run off together rather than there being any sort of foul play.

Fudge would lose his spy. Dumbledore could hire me to block the next attempt and the plan would move to the next stage.

But first a murder most horrid. Well horrid for her anyway.

The door opened and my date arrived and smiled at me. I invited her in and she sat at the table. We made unimportant chit chat, how was your day that sort of thing, and I poured her a glass of wine and left mine untouched. She drank the expensive (I'd forked out for a costly bottle since it would be her last drink) liquid down and had a quick fit and died.

Working quickly I dumped my victims' still warm body on the zombie world wondering it would be eaten by anything and went from there to the Sanctuary to wait for the potion to wear off before returning to the Wizarding World to buy a House Elf and take my apperating lesson. It took less than half an hour over all.

Not bad for my first murder.

I went and past my test for this world's version of magical teleporting very quickly which was good as having to leave one world and enter it again from another just to travel more than walking distance makes me feel silly. Also its pretty much this worlds version of a driving test so I was more likely to get the job I was going for I could pop around. Also I was supposed to have been off travelling for years so I took a retest rather than the full test but still past with ease. Teleporting really isn't that hard with magic as long as you can focus your intent and enforce it with your will and that's how all Fable worked.

Now I just had to wait for the interview.

**Hogwarts School. Wizarding World. Scotland. August 12****th****.**

I'd timed this very, although mostly by accident, the day of my interview was the same day Potter would be getting the hearing. It was actually in the papers, which given that it was a simple hearing and not a trail seemed a bit odd. But the rest of the paper clued me in, the Potter bashing had already started. Poor kid, no one should be treated like this. I was tempted to murder Rita Skeeter next but I didn't want to get into the habit of planning out peoples deaths.

Killing those trying to kill you and others is morally fine with me, and I'd have no problem if people died because I was to rough on them in a fight but planning out deaths is a little much and would only end with seeing human beings as lesser people.

From there it wouldn't be a big step from hero trying to reshape the world to tyrant trying to control it. Perhaps I would cross that line one day but I would resist the urge for as long as possible.

Anyway by working out the times mentioned in the paper its seems that I killed Umbridge after she must of sent the order unleashing the soul sucking demons upon Surrey. So not only had she been an attempted murderer she'd also not cared about collateral damage. The Dementos would of soul sucked anyone found with Potter regardless of who they were.

I felt a little better what I'd done now and it wasn't going to get in the way of me carrying out my plans.

However on the matter of Dementors I was quite worried. All my powers would be useless if facing Dementors judging by a book I'd brought about them. I could only hope to learn that expecto patronum spell or maybe the two Colts I'd ordered made would kill them.

They better do they'd cost a small fortune to have made and would it be weeks before I actually had them.

"Follow me" said the school caretaker as he led me across the grounds towards the school.

I had to admit that grounds were wonderful if rather cold but this was Scotland after all. Plus despite not caring much for the idea of living in a school I did have to admit a small amount of thrill at being here. It was quite famous after all.

The walk was a bit of a long one as the castle is larger on the inside than the outside suggests. Like the TARDIS but there's not such an extreme difference between the inside and out. I guessed either that it just seemed to big for its outside or there were ways to make room bigger than they should be with moving the outside walls.

We didn't go to the Headmaster's office but given that about now he should be at the trail I'd known he wouldn't be interviewing me. Which was a good bit of luck because I didn't know that whole if the clear your mind thing actually worked or not. I'd gotten a book on mind magic but it was complex art.

You had to compartmentalise your own mind. To control your passions and suppress certain memories while having the memories you do what seen at the front of your mind. Or you can clear you mind when you feel it being probed and try to rid yourself of feelings at the same time.

I'd grasped this quickly or at the theory side of it. Believe the lies you tell and suppress the truth Be a different person that you actually are. This explains a lot about Snape. The man you see in the films is the man he presents not really who is inside. He projects the self image he wants people to see.

That whole idea of making mental shields is silly. Picturing your mind protected by walls you slowly build in your head is a load of rubbish. I can imagine walls in my mind it doesn't mean a thing.

Its also makes sense because 'A _master of defence_ is one who is _never in the place_ that is _attacked'_ Any wall you imagine in your mind can be broken by the mind trying to get in simply imaging their thoughts are a say a bulldozer or a battering ram. But if your thoughts simple aren't there to be attacked your defence is perfect.

But my understanding of defending ones mind was still at the theory stage after all I couldn't mentally attack myself to test them since I knew my own mind from the inside. So really I had no idea if it would work.

Why is it that defending my body so easy but defending my mind is so hard?.

Given this I was glad that the Deputy Headmistresses would be doing the interview as I doubted she was going to try and read my mind. I don't think she could, unless she's really good at hiding it.

"Come in Mr. Mason" invited my hopefully soon to be employer "Please take a seat".

I did as she asked and we got right to the heart of the matter. She seemed driven to get this matter over and done with, perhaps she was worried about today's hearing and wanted to find out what was happing in the courtroom

"Now your letter states that you have no former education but were tutored by a professor now retired from this school. Horace Slughorn it says I didn't know he'd been tutoring".

Only the fact that I was practising Occlumency aloud me to hide my reaction. Honestly I should of guessed that was who'd take my money in exchange for lying for me.

"It wasn't that formal an arrangement" I said now building the character I wanted to project.

I was now Damien Mason. A young wizard alone in the world who was seeking a good job in order to settle down after spending the time between now and when he became an adult travelling and having adventures. Normally someone like this would of only fitted in so well during Victorian times but this place wasn't much past that.

"Slughorn was a relaxed teacher it was more like having a mentor that an a professor".

"Is he still eating all those sweets?" inquired McGonagall "he was always eating those crystallised oranges I always swore he'd break his teeth that way.

"I think you mean pineapple, Professor" I corrected "He never ate orange ones as far as I know".

That had been a test I was sure and for a second I was worried but then I remembered fake Moody had only been discovered a couple of months ago. McGonagall must be worried about Death Eaters trying to enter the school.

I was to young to have been a Death Eater in the last war having only been ten when it ended or at least Damien had been. My pretend self was nearly the same age as me but my world was nearly than twenty years ahead of this one, and in 1996 I was still in primary school. But in her view I could still be spy for one of the free Death.

"Of course Pineapples yes" she commented idly.

I tried to look as if this didn't matter.

"Now I know Horace would of taught you a lot so lets skip to your practical experience. You have travelled a lot I understand. Have you encountered many dark creatures".

"Not really" I admitted "but I've had to deal some nasty people".

I think a mad couple trying to sacrifice me to the Shadows counts as nasty. And the Highwaymen well he had been armed and crazy enough to be dangerous.

"People?" asked McGonagall "What sort of people?".

"A few muggles have tried to kill me when I was wandered into the wrong places at the wrong time. I dealt with them without risking the the Statue of Secrecy. I also had to deal with a group of inferi, nearly started a small forest fire but I managed to stop it from getting out hand".

Well they had been Hollowmen but close enough.

"I'm much better at avoiding trouble than getting into it" I explained "And that's the kind of thing I would teach, its better for children and young adults to avoid danger when possible and allow more experienced people to deal with dangerous situations. Of course that isn't always possible so I'd try to show them how to deal with dangers as quickly and as safely as possible".

She seemed pleased by that. Her house might be that of the brave and bold but they were still children and should be taught how to protect themselves and escape not how to fight it. Plus hey I bet I already sounded better than Lockheart had, assuming they'd bothered to interview the berk.

"Well we actually don't have any other candidates for the job" informed the teacher "and while your not as qualified as I'd like you seem promising, your letter of recommendation from Professor Slughorn speaks well of you".

I'd take her word on that as it was better in this case if I hadn't actually read it.

"And it would keep...".

She paused and wondered if she was trying to led me to say something. While projecting a look of mild interest I quickly gave it some thought and realised she wasn't worried about me being a Death Eater she was worried I was a more sneaky attempt by Fudge to get someone inside the school. Someone from say law enforcement would be to obvious but a unknown like me might be a trick.

"Keep who, professor?"

"It doesn't matter Mr. Mason. What does matter is this 'why do you want this job?', it doesn't have a good reputation nor is a secure position".

She wasn't wrong there. One guy had actually died doing the job. Another one is a mental hospital and the last one had has his soul consumed by a demon.

"Well Professor I've done my exploring and seen the world and want to settle down, maybe start a family given that mines all gone. If I have a good job it will help me reach my goal I'd heard the pay is good and someone starting a family needs money. And even if it isn't permanent, if I do a good job many other employers may hear about it and think well of me".

Actually the pay wasn't that great compared to some ministry jobs but given that the school supplied your with quarters, three square meals a day and a small fund to pay for what you needed for lessons it actually saved you a lot of money working here. You even got a House Elf assigned to you in case you wanted to take meals alone or fancied a late supper after grading lots of homework.

It was a pretty sweet set up really and even if you weren't a good teacher you got the title of Professor which while mostly honorary was still quite well respected.

"I have a question if I may" I said to the interviewing staff member. "I heard about the curse that's suppose to be on this job and had an idea that might get around it".

She was all ears for my idea.

"Well I don't know if this has ever been tried before but has any one ever signed a contract that ends the job after the school year finishes. And then just reapplied for the same post. Meaning that they don't actually hold the job for more than a year strictly speaking".

Depending on how the curse worked it might be enough to save me from a sticky fate. My back up plan was to simple leave if looked like I was in danger I couldn't handle and have a letter saying I quit on standby.

"Not that I am aware of" she replied. "but I'll mention it to Professor Dumbledore. I know he had tried renaming the job and class but it ever caught on".

It was worth a shot to get two years here but one would do. I might not get two even the curse was broken and if events stayed on track Snape would take the job next year anyway.

"If you do get the job you'll need to quickly decide on what books your class would require. I can suggest a number of titles if you like the material hasn't changed much even since my day".

I nodded and pretended to care about the cat animagus was saying. Mostly in was about duties the job came with. Patrolling the corridors after curfew. Supervising detentions and study sessions. Perhaps running a defence club, which I hadn't thought about but if it was an hour a week why not.

I offered a few more details about what I would like to teach and called upon lessons I'd gotten from the Guild to do this. Weaver had known a few choice pearls of wisdom and I had taken careful notes.

Despite what happens on television I've heard of anyone in real life actually being hired at the end of the interview even if it seems like they should be.

Once years ago I'd gone for an interview at a supermarket and felt like I'd gotten to the job, so I'd decided to spoil myself buy picking up a few treats before leaving the store. Before I'd even gotten to the checkout I been called on my mobile and offered the job. That had been very satisfying. But to be hired for a job before the interview is even over gives you quite the cheery buzz.

Of course it were for any other job at this school I doubted I'd of had so much luck, they seemed to always need a defence teacher.

"Term starts September the first so we don't have much time to get you settled and while you don't need lesson plans as such I would like to see what you have planned for your classes a board outline will do".

"And here I thought I would be the one handing out the home work" I joked.

She smiled at that, just a little and I decided Damien would have a sense of humour when working. Being seen as a little bit of a joker would suit the character well.

I'd actually typed up a lesson plan it was pretty basic since I'd never been a teacher and the printed paper seemed to impress her. I explained it was a Muggle machine I used due to having bad handwriting.

Unlike electronic equipment a more old fashioned typewriter wouldn't break down due to the magic around here and she mentioned that she had a few students who could do with one but parchment was preferred due to tradition. I replied that I'd let students use the typewriter for homework for my class even if others wouldn't.

This wasn't because I wanted to make the work easier for the kids but easier for me. The job was a cover after all.

I then had to ask myself why I was acting more like Clark Kent than Bruce Wayne, but thinking about it this wasn't a such a bad thing. No one every suspected Clark Kent of being Superman even the reporters he worked with. Really it would be a good cover if I decided to kill anyone else in this world as who would suspect a joking school teacher with a love for typewriters.

I excused myself from her office stating that I'd best get started on finding a suitable book and make lessons plans.

Ass I left I tried not to laugh out loud while she could still her me. Really these people weren't to bright, perhaps my fake secret identity would stay intact for as long as I needed it to.

Next I was going to buy a nice a house using the fake family money, one that would be large enough to house the large family planned out for my fake life. It fact it would more like the batcave than a family home but why not get a big house if you can.

Time to go house hunting.

_**Ottery St**_**. **_**Catchpole**_** Wizarding World. Devon. England. **

As a Goblin took on me on tour of the massive house I was intending to buy I had to wonder who really ran the Wizarding World.

Humans controlled the law and order forces, some communications like the floo network and a lot of methods of travel. Like portkeys for example and the fact that flying carpets are banned.

But Goblins controlled the money side of things. They ran the bank, the real estate, ensured that wages were paid into your account and collected taxes.

The system also seemed to be designed to keep people soft by creating a sedate and rather dull life style. Food and drink are plentiful. Even the poorest families seem to live comfortably compared the poorer non-magical folk.

Everyone who wants a job seems to have one and people can easily visit family and family without having to put effort into it. Your teenage children spend most of their time at school, then either spent a few years aboard or went fight to work before marrying and then produced grandchildren for you to spoil.

I'd normally be a bit worried about everyone seeming to be so happy. They didn't want to question things, they didn't like it when people rocked the boat but didn't seem to want to anything about it when other people did.

Sort of like the Eloi in that HG Wells book. I was tempted to go look for Morlocks but decided that role was taken already by the Death Eaters.

And on that subject. I was so tempted to open a door to a certain island and drop off a small yield nuke. I doubted that magic would protect them from something like that at least not if was already inside the wards and would solve a lot of problems.

Also would nuclear fire cleanse the Dementors?. They did seem to be somewhat physical in nature as they had to open doors so they might be killed by a nuke as they were very powerful weapons.

But that was a bit extreme as it would kill all the human guards, any prisoner innocent of their crime and also the ones who hadn't committed very serious crimes and might just be there for a few weeks to scare them off a life of crime.

The manor house I was touring was quite large having been the home a high ranking noblemen a few hundred year ago and after that until now had been the home of a wizard family called Diggory.

They'd just lost their only child so the couple wanted to move away but selling a house this size isn't easy and most wizard don't buy property they inherit it because their population isn't growing they don't need to build new homes either. Which meant a buyers market and sellers nightmare.

I could see why Amos Diggory and his wife wanted to sell up and leave. This place was to big for just two people and I could tell it had memories of happier times haunting its halls.

"As you can see Professor Mason" said the tour Goblin using my new title "the house has rooms left unused for many years meaning plenty of space to expand into should you decided to start a family or simply have friends to stay".

I'd underestimated just how big the place was when reading about it. The Diggory House was actually a stately home. I visited one when on a school trip and this one was just like it but the one I'd seen as a kid had been more of a museum than anything else and run by a charitable organization.

The Diggory family only seemed to live in small part of this massive place. Which is a good thing or they might not of seen each other for weeks at a time.

(Author Note: Rather than describe the house I'm just going to direct you to google Longleat House I really can't do it justice with words. One day it will be mine. I swear this in the name of almighty Spongebob!)

The grounds were rather small compared to say Longleat which it resembled and this house wasn't as big as Longleat either but despite that I had wonder how the Diggory family. A group that had lived here since the 1730's had been able to buy this house. I suspected they'd stolen it and maybe even moved it here.

Which given the powers wizards can call upon is not a silly as it sounds. Or I suppose they could of just erased it from the history books that would have been easier and explain why I'd never heard of this place.

It was really to big for my needs and it wasn't for the fact that I had limitless gold. Well not limitless as the bank could only process so much gold so fast but they would buy the house for me and I would pay off the loan quickly with gold bars.

I also planned for a team to do the magic that would hide this place, leaving me the only who could tell people that it even existed. This would prevent anyone from asking questions like why does a school teacher need a home big enough to hide an army in.

But who cared if it was to big I had my Fortress Of Solitude. And even if I did move a harem into here well its so big I might not notice.

I'd keep the small flat I was renting in Diagon Alley as cover to further keep Damien a separate person from Gothic professional Hero and traveller of the multi-verse, which is a very cool thing to be if I do say so myself.

"I'll take it" I told the Goblin as the tour finished "pay the Diggory ten percent more than the asking price and twenty percent if they leave the furniture ".

I had no idea how much it was actually worth but converting galleons to pounds sterling I was paying three million for it. Which sounds like a lot but I would of guessed at least ten million pounds maybe more depending on the actual state of the house. And judging by the House Elves I saw covering furniture with white sheets I guessed it came with staff too.

"The area has a few other magical families living it . The Lovegoods and the Weasels would be your closet neighbours but they are far enough way if your desire privacy" informed the Gobin.

Lovegood as in Luna. She turned out to be a bit of a hottie by the last film might snap her up to. Wouldn't bother with the red head were far sexier girls not only in this world but on others too. Thinking on that I really should get an adult women around here in case I got horny.

Well I was planning to spend a few days playing superhero maybe even look for some quests and stuff to fill this place with. It wouldn't take long for Amos and his wife to leave and then I could contract some spell work and have run of the place.

But that would take a week or so to set up as warding such a large area takes days so I was in no rush to find a women to live her as a sex slave/trophy. I could afford to dos for a while and to move some more gold around.

Remembering that the Goblin was there I said.

"I'll take a look around the grounds before I go and then I'll make my way to my apartment" I told the creature " so please don't let me keep you".

Goblins don't like humans so getting away from me was in its interests and the creature left me to wander around some of England's green and pleasant land. The view was... well it was made up of fields which were green and trees that were mostly green and bushes that were also green. But still it was rather nice to look at and it wasn't raining which is always a nice treat on this soggy island.

Wandering out the wards that prevented teleporting by humans I wondered what to do next, were to go. I could do with some some fun and to pick up a girl or three to keep me amused. After all as Marlissa said I am a superior form of humanity and my genes should be spread far and wide in order to benefit the species.

Of course that might just be her trying to tempt me into giving into the sin of lust. But it was worth the risk cause what's the point of super powers and extremes amounts of money if you can't use them to enjoy yourself.

With that in mind I span on the spot to return to my flat so I could plan out my next move with a cup of tea and my feat up.

Not very heroic but hey I hadn't been doing this job for very long.


	3. Chapter 3

**Another Author Note. **

**I'm making Gothic go to alternative universes as the slight differences serve the story better. Helps to avoid Overlord Gothic as well as I don't want them to crossover until Hero Gothic has the power to actually be more than a nuisance to his Overlord counterpart. **

**Also Hero Gothic will be anti-hero mostly but not evil until at least the next book because I want a break from a character trying conquer things. Might do that later but not for a while. **

**Hero Gothic. Book One. Part Three. **

**Whiterun. Skyrim. Elder Scrolls Verse. **

Coming here to start my career as adventurer and hero was a brilliant idea. Having played the game so much I could visualise the places I wanted to be clearly and apparate to them with ease.

I was also armed with an AK-47 which I couldn't use at great range compared to a professional but against people with swords and bows it highly effective.

Quite I frankly I'd slaughtered the bandits I'd been sent after and even the woolly mammoth herding giants died quickly when shot with 5.56mm bullets.

I hadn't set to kill them they'd been drawn towards me by the sound of gunfire. I didn't know if they had simply been curious or had seen me as a threat, either way it had cost them their lives. Rather sad really but I got that mammoth tusk I was also hired to get.

I'd been hoping to bag a dragon. I knew they liked to get in close (at least relativity close by my standards) and while tough a clip of 5.56mm should at least wound one enough for Marlissa to come into play.

But no dragons had been spotted yet and I wasn't a dragon born anyway so fighting them was not my business I was here to gain some experience and do a few small quests to for xp points.

"Bandit, behind you!" warned my demon blade.

I span on the spot and dropped one of those cat people with a single shot aimed where a human heart would be and didn't miss. The man-cat thing died quickly and cleanly, which is what I liked.

Checking my foolish former attacker over I had to wonder how many idiots were going to try and rob me today. I didn't even have any of their money on me.

Correct that I did now. This bandit must of already robbed someone to day. Judging by the weight of the coins and the blood on his sword a rich somebody. A merchant perhaps, well this two legged animal wouldn't be harming anyone else.

"Isn't using a gun cheating?" asked my talking sword. "Its not like you couldn't of killed all those guys just using your powers".

I snorted at the idea.

"Human beings didn't climb to the top of the food chain by fighting they got to the top by using tools to kill from a distance. Physical strength and stamina mean nothing if the other guy can shoot a gun".

There was a reason why the Guild had put so much effort into trying to teach me to use a crossbow. A kill made from a distance was better than one made by the sword.

It was less risky for the Hero as well and this was important because training a Hero is a major investment for the Guild. They want to see a return on that investment so if a newly minted Hero gets himself killed on his first mission because he takes on an entire bandit group with nothing more than a sword then it makes the Guild bad, and they lose all the investment they put into him.

However with the right tools and the right training one Hero is worth a small army and I was proving that today.

Learning to shoot the AK-47 had been easy enough I'd gone off to my world and found one of those blokes who shows off his shooting skills on the net. They always need money to buy their next toy and if its one I had its money.

An afternoon spent shooting at targets on an outdoor firing range was time well spent. I hadn't done so well with Fable weapons because if you miss the first time you have to reload and you never have enough time for that so its frustrating. But with a semi-automatic weapon if your first shot misses that doesn't mean the rest will.

Plus it helped that everyone here screamed at you before coming right at you with a hand to hand weapon. No one tried sneaking up on me and even the magic users didn't have the range I enjoyed.

It also might have something to do with the cold weather army surplus I was wearing. I was rather hard to see until I was already close enough to shoot someone.

The people of Whiterun had commented on that but I just told them I was a traveller of many lands and had found the clothes in far off marketplace. Most people at this level of social development had very little idea on what far away places were actually like or even where they were relative to the settlements they lived in. My exotic accent, which to their ears must of sounded very alien, no doubt enforced this impression.

Communication at least wasn't a problem. The Imperial speech was close enough to English for me to handle without needing translation. A few words here or there made no sense to me and I didn't get the cultural references but I had no problems finding quests. The worlds Help Me were easy enough to understand even when not said in English.

Now closer to civilization I packed my gun away hiding it in the backpack between layers of spare clothing (which were needed as doors between worlds tended to appear where they would blend in so not many places in the wilderness would support one and just teleporting around wasn't always a good idea) and the mammoth tusk I intended to keep for myself.

This hadn't been totally about getting quests for myself I wanted to collect some trophies and other nice things to decorate my new home with. Amos Diggory had left most of the furniture behind when he moved but the personal effects and decorations were mostly gone. I had a lot of rooms to fill and it was best to get started now.

Entering into the town I stopped off at the blacksmiths and traded in a few metal ingots I'd found in exchange for a silver dagger. I made up the difference with some local currency and moved on.

I needed a silver weapon because there were things out there that could be killed in certain ways, well unless you went to extremes.

For example the local werewolves were really tough I might be able to just empty a clip at them and blow apart their bodies but still having a silver weapon as a backup still made sense. Plus ammo was heavy, you could only carry so much.

Not that the werewolves were likely to attack me being the town's version of the Fighters Guild but like a boy scout I wanted to be prepared. Following that logic I also carried a wooden stake in my jacket pocket in case of Vampires. If I remembered right the local vamps could be killed without a stake but the classics methods are always best. If wood didn't work try again with silver. Or just decapitate them. All are fine methods as is killing it with fire which was easy enough for me.

"Oh you got the tusk that's great" remarked my client.

She was prettier than the game suggested but had no special talents or powers so I had little interest in her outside of a professional relationship. I hadn't even bothered to learn her name.

"Hopefully I'll be able to open my own store one day" she told me.

A store, now that might be a good investment. I had no need to make money thanks to all the gold just lying about on that zombie world but making a partnership might be a good idea. If nothing else she might come across a magical item now and again, and I could use a reliable local source of information.

There was no need to try and enthral her for this partnership as she didn't seem the type to betray what she saw as a friend so I just offered her some gold to get her started.

Rather than simply run another stall she planned to use her contacts with the travelling merchants to get people things they needed by having the traders find it and bring it here as part of their travels.

No need to be disappointed by the general store not having what you need when you could use the medieval version of mail order. Might be months until you actually got what you wanted but it was a lot safer than trying to get it yourself and less dependant on chance like waiting for the local merchant to finally get whatever it you want in stock.

I could improve on this business by supplying a small amount of exotic items some not even found on this world. She'd sell them and when I dropped in for a quick visit once a month or so I could go find a few things she might need and get a look at what she had.

She also asked me if I was married. Not a question you normally heard around here as people looking to get married tended to wear an amulet of Mara which told everyone you were single and wanted to find someone. It was a simple way to declare yourself available and the locals were rather straight forward about it. If they liked you and we were single then they'd go for it.

I had to wonder why we didn't have a similar method on 21st century it would make dating a lot easier. If your looking to hook up for one a nightstand were a shiny thing telling people this. If you were looking for a long term partner wear something different but equally noticeable. If you weren't looking for anyone to hook up with then the lack of amulet would let everyone know.

It wasn't a perfect system but it was damn better than the crap I'd put with trying to get sex on my world. How many embarrassments would it save in a nightclub were you couldn't hear what people were saying if they wore an amulet saying exactly what they wanted.

"No I'm not married but I'm not looking for anyone I move around to much to have a family" I told the woman.

She didn't seem that disappointed by what I told her so perhaps she'd just been interested in cementing a business partnership with a more romantic one. A practical and good idea from her position as a wife she'd be more secure in our dealings as in the eyes of her gods we'd have a union and possibly that whole idea of 'what's mine is yours and what's yours in mine' would come into play in some legal sense.

If it weren't for that fact that she smelt bad, wore unflattering clothing and didn't shave her legs I might of taken her up on the offer. But people living feudal societies aren't well know for their personal hygiene, ut it wasn't her fault and by local standards she was actually rather pretty.

But I could have supermodels if I wanted a wife so thanks, but no thanks.

I excused myself to go see the local Jarl which the closet thing this place had to a mayor. He had given the bounty on those bandits to me and I was going to collect and then see the court enchanter. I had a nice silver ring and I wanted to see if he would magic it up to enhance my strength at least a little.

I didn't really need to get stronger as I was quite fast and nimble, deadly with a sword and becoming a really good marksmen. But I knew there would come a day when I have beat somebody up and I wanted a little more power behind my blows in case that day was the one I didn't a weapon with me.

After all even my magic could be disabled and I didn't want to be left defenceless just because I saw physical strength as the least important of the tools at my disposal.

"Ah so you are student of the arcane arts" said the court mage after I'd gotten my reward from his boss.

The Jarl had taken my word for it when I claimed to have killed the bandits in their own hideout. Confirming this wouldn't be hard and if I had lied then I'd just be arrested next time I set foot in this town.

The bounty hadn't been great but I had a gold brick in my bag that would make up the difference if the enchanter's prices were to high.

"Not really" I replied

Truth be told I was actually a teacher of it now, at least in title as school didn't open for another fortnight so I hadn't actually taught anyone yet but I did have practical experience.

"I've picked up a few tricks during my travels but the more subtle arts are beyond me" I told the man.

I told him what I wanted and he wasn't surprised that I wanted to boost my physical prowess but once he saw the gold bar which was worth more here than its weight (because gold didn't come in bars in the Empire and novelty always adds value) he offered to teach me the basics of alchemy and enchantment as well as to enchant the ring. All just for one gold bar.

Not a bad way to spend the rest of a day and I did learn quite a bit. With some patience and a lot of souls gems (which I could afford to buy by the dozen) I would be able make my own enchanter's desk and work this magic myself.

Being able to enchant my own equipment would be useful in the future. You could add passive enchantments to anything you wore so by the end of the day the sturdy boots I wore would allow me to walk on water and the belt had a permanent feather spell on it so I would be able to carry more without becoming so sluggish in movement.

Not bad for a lump metal I had thousands of stashed away. It cost me nothing I got some magic items and some training for it.

Plus Heroes always learned better by doing so being show how to do things by an expert always yielded better results than book learning. My training at the Guild had better prepared me for life than over ten years of modern day education had. Although to be fair I doubted being a trained Hero would be something that would help in most lines of work back on my planet.

Sure I'd make one hell of cop, fire-fighter or solider but in those jobs my superhuman nature would be obvious and I'd likely end up being dissected and studied in a lab somewhere along with a few Roswell Greys.

But here no one cared if you fought with speed and agility that would make Altair and Ezio weep with envy. In Skyrim everyone accepted that I was just so fast and deadly because compared to the tales they heard about other heroes nothing I did was that amazing.

Granted that wouldn't be so true if they saw my guns which is why I kept them hidden but on other worlds I'd need to hide my super powers and use weapons like these so I was suited to the job of multi-verse adventurer quite well.

By the time I ended my lessons it was getting dark here and while Heroes can function on very little rest and food we still felt better if we slept and ate regularly. On the flip side due to having that sort of metabolism you tended to get fat if you ate the wrong foods but it was also easy to lose weight. I just did push ups and jogging to keep my weight down.

I was a little worried that teaching would make me soft but doing magic could be as tiring as a good run and I could go at least go running every morning as the castle grounds were large enough.

Not wanting to sleep in any of the patches of hay this lot called beds I slipped behind a building and made a door to my Diagon Alley apartment appear. I'd have some dinner at the Leaky Cauldron before heading out to greater London for a trip the cinema. Some good films had come out in the 90's that I'd been to young to go and watch them. And seeing them on a TV screen just isn't as good.

Tomorrow I'd come back and see if there was any more questing to be done. I could do with getting some more fresh air and there had to something around here hard to kill.

**Dumbledore's Office. Hogwarts. Wizarding World. Scotland. **

"So Minerva will our new Defence Against the Dark Arts do a good job do you think?" asked Albus Dumbledore Headmaster of Hogwarts and leader of the Order of the Phoenix.

The Headmaster hoped that he would. If this Mason chap didn't work out then Fudge would just move another agent into the school.

"He'll do fine Albus" replied the Deputy Head. "Not as experienced as I might like but you did tell me to give him the job as long as he wasn't worse than last few we've had".

Which wouldn't be hard as not many people had the spectre of a Dark Lord on the back of their heads. Nor are they normally Death Eaters in disguise.

But the school board was looking more closely at applicants which was why Remus Lupin hadn't returned and while the board's power was limited if the new Defence teacher was bad enough they could organize the parents who actually could force a change since they were paying for the running of the school.

Still the new Professor didn't need to be brilliant just acceptable. It would be best if he wasn't too good either as that way he'd just draw the Minster's attention. Fudge didn't want Dumbledore's students learning to fight wizards so if new teacher looked like he could make an army he wouldn't last any longer than he would if was a fool like a certain other teacher who'd had that job.

"He suggested signing a contract that dismisses him before the school year official ends" informed the head of the house of Lions"that along with a name change might avoid the curse".

There was actually a real curse on the job but only a few knew that it was real. Dumbledore hadn't been able to get a single person to last more than a year since he'd refused Tom back in the 70's. Although only one person had actually died doing the job some of them hadn't faired much better.

A Professor called Simmons still hadn't left this home since he'd been run out of the school by stressed out OWL students back in 89' and the less said about Professor Lambert the better, the mess had taken weeks to clean up even with magic.

"I've tried renaming it but it never caught on" reminded Dumbledore "but perhaps a name change combined with a limited contract might do it. If we keep the word defence in the class title it could work".

Only Voldemort knew the terms of the curse but all curses had limits so it was worth a try.

"How about simply calling it Magical Defence" suggested the Hogwarts's second in command "He's planning to teach more than fighting the Dark Arts after all".

Dumbledore popped a lemon drop in his mouth and thought the matter over.

"Its worth a go" he decided. "but now onto other matters. The Minster has changed tactics, rather than to try and get one of his people on the staff the school will instead be playing host to a team of Education Inspectors whose job it will be to inspect the school and ensure the children are getting a good quality of education".

"You mean they will poking around, reporting back to him and disrupting the smooth running of the school" corrected the Transfigeration teacher.

The Headmaster's smile was all the support she needed for that statement.

"Very much so yes" agreed Dumbledore "so we must of course take every opportunity to ensure that they see nothing untoward. As far as they will be concerned Hogwarts will be a bastion of peace and tranquillity".

Or in other words. Let's make this place seem so dull that the inspectors die of boredom before the Christmas holidays. Assuming that was possible.

"Albus do you think we should ask Mason to join the Order?"

"Perhaps I shall ask him but not yet" said Dumbledore "let's see how he deals with the job and the inspection before adding anything more to his plate".

"Oh I'm sure he could handle it" supported Minerva "he looks like the kind of man would stay cool in a crisis".

**Hillgrund's Tomb . Skyrim. Elder Scrolls Verse. **

Well I'd wanted something hard to kill and now I had what I wanted. I'd come down here to face a simple Necromancer and found myself fighting one of those undead wizards who were damn hard to kill and had great magical powers, and oh yeah command over the dead.

I was suppose to be helping on of the local Nords find his aunt. To this end I'd equipped my 12 gauge pump action shotgun as nothing deals with animated corpses quite like this does. Well maybe a flamethrower but their bulky things and in tight spaces like these there as much a risk to yourself as to the things you want to burn.

It had all gone so well until now. My superior weapons had allowed me destroy anything in my path and I'd collected a nice load of decorations for my new house. Nothing too amazing, just ancient Nord weapons, the odd cool looking helmet and some more body parts like the teeth and claws of a nasty troll that took a head shot to bring down.

So I'd gotten overconfident naturally thinking myself top dog as I became a better hunter and perfected my use of 20th and 21st century firearms.

But I'd discovered that I wasn't top dog after all. There was a Lich ready to take my life and he was doing job of it.

When I'd first saw the dead mage I'd thought cool mask I'll have that for when I go and play Superhero but the non-living spellcaster had taken offence to the idea.

I'd shot the damn thing point blank range sending it flying but it had picked itself up and now was blasting the cover I had taken with lightening bolts while summoning its fellow dearly departed to come join in the fun.

The warrior zombies as I called them or Draugr to give their proper name went down easy enough but the unlive mage was able to use its magic to get a lot of them moving again even when the Draugr had most of its chest missing. Some of them wouldn't get up again despite the Lich's efforts as there bodies were to badly damaged by fireballs and shotgun shells so I was making some progress.

Sadly my current client wasn't among the living any more but at least unlike the rest of these dead chaps he'd not gotten up again.

Taking a chance to end this fight I took out the 9mm pistol holstered inside the bulky army surplus jacket I wore, aimed the pistol and fired it at the lich while also blasting an undead with the pump-action shotgun.

I could imagine that the whole thing must of looked really cool or it would if it had worked. The Draugr went down easily enough its head blown apart like a melon at a Gallagher concert. But the spellcaster become ghost like and the 9mm bullets past through him with no effect.

If that was the power that cool mask awarded him then I really wanted it now.

Realising that the gun was useless I dropped it and used the free hand to lob a few weak fireballs. Magical attacks hurt ghosts when mundane attacks didn't so the corpse wizard backed off. It wasn't out of the fight it was just going to regroup.

The warrior zombies had thinned a bit so I dropped the rest and tried my own bit of Necromancy. I'd never actually done this as it required dead bodies and a few seconds to focus which you couldn't often get in a fight.

Attacking the Lich with magic was pointless as he had some sort of lightening shield that protected him so this method would be best.

Balls of light appeared, the spirits of those trapped here unable to move on, and entered bodies that must of once been belonged to them. The animated dead become more skeletons that zombies as the magic keeping their dead flesh mostly intact failed.

Yet despite being less intact in body they seemed more active in mind. With lights in their eyes they looked at me with malevolence and laughed as best they could. For a moment I thought I'd somehow made things worse but they all turned and charged my enemy either because that was what I wanted them to do or because they disliked him for some reason.

Perhaps the undead Necromancer was the reason their souls hadn't moved on and they wanted payback. Killing him (well it) might even free them somehow.

The corpse spellcaster destroyed more than half the Hollowmen I'd made before he went down my dead took it apart and scattered the body parts around the chamber before they themselves came to an end.

I recovered my weapons and reloaded, just in case this wasn't really over, and then looted the room. This was made a lot easier thanks to the Wizarding Worlds version of a bag of holding. It could store rooms full of stuff, weighted next to nothing and was small enough to pass for a woman's handbag.

I might think the Wizards to be fools but they really knew to make life easier.

Getting a good look at my foe I realised that his wasn't just a dead wizard it was a Dragon Priest. I was lucky to still be alive.

I took the Dragon Priest Mask which had caught my eye and realised that I had no idea what it actually did. I knew they were powerful relics that grant immunities to certain types of attacks or could boost skills. But I didn't know what this one did as I couldn't read the runes.

That court wizard I befriended would likely know. I'd wait until he told what they said before putting it one as its magic might might require to weaken the wearer in some way to balance out its gifts. That might not be a problem for the dead but for a living guy it could be a deadly.

To my surprise when I turned on the spot to try and appear back in Whiterun it worked. I would of thought the place would protected from that sort of thing. Oh well it just made my job easier.

Now to sort out the loot and buy some cool stuff. And then I wanted to find out why a Dragon Priest wasn't where he was suppose to be.

**New York City. Manhattan. Marvel Verse.**

This wasn't the first time I'd been to New York and I'd gone shopping (err well looting) in another version of this great city. But there's a big difference between seeing it on the ground during the day and seeing on the rooftops at night.

Its often called the city that never sleeps and its well named, its gone midnight here and its still so busy. And its so bright. To see it lit up is just breath taking. And its big too, really big. I'd thought London was massive but this was a whole other level of sheer mind boggling bigness.

I'd even seen Spiderman swinging by but he hadn't noticed me, not surprising as I was dressed in all black with a hood over my head The mask of the Dragon Priest Hevnoraak was the only thing I wore that would reflect light.

I'd discovered quite a bit about the local folklore deal with the Dragon Priests and also why Hevnoraak would have been active. Not that he was any more thanks to me, I'd made sure he wouldn't be getting up again.

The return of the Dragon that would soon be flying around resurrecting its kin had woken the Dragon Priests up. And they, as their title suggested, existed to worship the Dragons and they were suppose to control the lesser races on behalf of the Dragon masters.

Given that the natives of Skyrim didn't worship the Dragons any more I theorised that the Priests were planning to make things just like they were back in the old days. That would require an army, an army of the dead. Hence why Dragon Priest Hevnoraak had been in that tomb, he was recruiting.

This wasn't part of the Skyrim story as far as I remembered as when I'd played the Dragon Priests had stayed in there tombs from I recalled so I must of gone to alternate version of Skyrim one were events would play out slightly differently due to something being different in the past.

I had no idea what that event was but really it didn't matter. What did matter was the cool mask I'd gotten to go with my Batman impression.

I was dressed not to impress but to be scary and hadn't bothered with a cloak. So if anything I looked more like the Red Hood than Batman but that actually suited me more. I was the kind of guy willing to fight fire with fire. I didn't mind going as far as the bad guys did in order to put them down. And if I could make myself more powerful while doing it then all the better for me.

Okay so not much of a Hero then but hey this was what was best for me and I would still save people. I still wanted to make the world a better place I was just wasn't to going to be a rolemodel for kids or be asked to join the local version of the Justice League any time soon. S.H.I.E.L.D might not be so picky but I could escape their enlistment methods so no worries there.

I'd enchanted all my clothes even the leather duster I was wearing so that all my Hero powers should be enhanced making more lethal than ever. I hadn't named this superhero yet, but I figured the paper would soon enough. Would give the Bugle something other than Spiderman to rant about at least.

Oddly they said little about Daredevil and I couldn't figure out why. He was active too although I hadn't seen him (not that I should he was around) as of yet.

A scream reached my ears and I focused on it. I couldn't see much even with my Hero powers giving me sharper senses than normal humans. But I could make out one figure being chased by two larger figures. Two men chasing a woman down back alleyways. That seemed pretty black and white to me.

I ran and jumped off the building using a wand spell that stopped my fall before I hit the ground. I had no idea how it worked but I knew it would as I'd practised this spell. Falls didn't tend to kill Heroes even child ones but if I impacted the ground I'd be out of action for while. And easy prey for anyone wanting to finish the job the fall didn't.

Instead of hitting the ground face first when completing my fall. I moved by feet so I landed on them when the spell ended I went after the baddies. Shame no one saw that, it must of looked wicked cool.

With a feather spell cast on my belt and my trousers enchanted to boost speed I caught up with the two men fast enough to save the girl which turned out not be what I thought it was because one of the men, a biker by the looks of him, threw me off him with strength and speed I'd not seen since sparing with another Hero.

The biker swore at me and said I'd let the vampire get away which made no sense until I saw the second guy dressed in long black coat. He looked like a real vampire and took off into the air. Which meant the biker was most likely Blade as who else in leather hunted vamps around here.

Right I'd asked for the 90's animated show so this made sense as Blade had appeared in that Spiderman series so that ugly git was Michael Morbius, not a true Vampire and he'd worked with Blade to hunt the real Vampires.

"Blade, help!".

Well that confirmed it.

The pissed off biker Blade left me on the ground and went to help his friend who buy the sounds of things had run into more than one Vampire. The two of them could of handled it together I guessed but I'd messed that up.

I best go help then.

Remembering my Marvel comics (I liked DC better but going around killing crooks with the likes of Superman around wasn't so smart after seeing what happened to the Elite) the Vampires here could dealt with by silver to the heart and head. And I had a silver dagger strapped to my boot. But would I get there in time to help, was I fast enough?.

Pulling out the dagger I charged forward and felt something strange happen. Time seemed to slow down the fight it front of me looked like it was happing in slow motion. Time snapped back into its natural pace and left me in the centre of fight that was quite hard to follow.

I'd would have to be careful when using that spell but I least I knew how to trigger it now I just needed to tell myself that more time was needed.

A vamp charged me and seemed to almost fly but as impressive as that was the male vampire wasn't as impressive as me. It flew right at me and impaled itself on the dagger I moved into place.

Like in the Blade films the Vampire dusted but the effect was far more energetic than when Buffy's Vampires turned to dust. It looked as the creature was being rapidly cremated rather than decomposing into dust.

I couldn't remember if these dead men burned easy so I didn't use fire balls and as I had friendlies (err well sort of) around using magic wasn't such a good idea.

A Vampire grabbed me from behind and training took over. I flipped the blood drinker over my shoulder. Took a heartbeat to check it was actually a vampire, the fangs suggested yes, and drove my dagger into its heart.

Another one bites the dust.

Blade and Michael made short work of the others and soon only the three of us were left standing and not to dissolve away in the next rain shower.

"You fool, why do you attack us!" shouted out Blade.

"Calm yourself Blade" commanded Morbius "I'm sure our masked friend has a good reason for what he did".

That accent was so cool. And wow that was really Blade.

'Damn stop it being a fanboy your a Hero like them' I told myself.

"I saw two shadowy figures chasing a lone woman down an alleyway" I pointed out "what would you think was happening?".

Blade growled, clearly this version was not as collected as the one played by Wesley Snipes, and Morbius had to calm things down again.

"He has a fair point, Blade. What you have done?".

"I'd of minded my own damned business" replied the Daywalker.

Come back Snipes, all is forgiven.

"Perhaps I could make amends for my actions" I told the two hunters "I can deal with the leeches as you saw, maybe I can help with your hunt".

"Not likely" half growled Blade.

Michael didn't share that point of view.

"We could use the help, there are far more of them than we thought".

Blade huffed.

"Fine but he gets himself killed. I'll stake him myself".

It took a second to process what he meant by that. He expected me to get bitten and turned.

"I'm immune to disease" I told Blade "I can't be infected".

"Really?" asked Morbius "Is it a genetic immunity or are you simply not human?".

"I am human" I replied "my immunity is magical so it can't be used to make a cure".

Best to make that clear now and not give the self made freak any false hope.

"Enough talk" spat Blade "if you can handle yourself then keep up, other wise go home".

Blade might seem rude but he really had no reason to trust so he was really being quite reasonable.. Bringing an unknown with you into battle is really risky which meant that whatever we were facing was worth the risk of having me along tag along. My guess a warehouse full of Vampires.

Morbius could fly and Blade had awesome bike so I really had to run to keep up. Thankfully there is no traffic on the roof tops and unlike in England the roofs here are flatter. They always are on TV at least.

So I kept up without bending time again which was disappointing I did actually try to get to use that power but I guessed it was fuelled by an emotional state.

Rage was the key to fire but it was easy to mad at people trying to kill and as for lightening you had to want to hurt people which isn't as easy even when they are trying to kill you as I don't hate them for trying kill me. Most of the time I get mad but I don't feel the need to inflict lots of pain.

Desperation seemed to be the key to time bending. Wanting it, willing it and desiring it weren't enough you had to need more time. I discovered this when I saw another group of leeches ambush Morbius.

These ones could fly it seemed perhaps they were older vampires or Pureblood ones. They certainly looked like they belonged a few decades back in the past, one of them wore a 40's style suit complete with hat.

Coming to my allies aid I shot a bolt of lightening at a Vampire trying to inflict pain. Normally this just shocked people but was more effective this time as the blood drinker lost control and crashed into street level below where Blade was waiting.

A vamp flew at me like a bat out of hell aiming to sink its teeth into my neck. I had no idea if I would live though such a thing. I was immune to the virus in its saliva but it might just drain me dry leaving me dried up husk.

I couldn't allow that and drove my dagger into the jaw that threatened my life. This worked as well as the heart as the tip of the silver weapon cut into the creature's brain making it immolate. The body burned so hot that I was sweating afterwards. Thankfully fire resistance had been added to the padded top I wore under the coat.

Wishing once again (but not out loud) that I had the kill nearly anything Colt, as I hadn't anticipated Vampires, I pulled out the wand I'd brought and then paused.

My mind went blank. Fire wasn't a help here what could I do?. I settled for a series of stunners and blasting curses, pretty easy spells for someone at my power level and did a good job of clearing the sky.

I threw myself off the building and stopped my fall again just in time to see Blade stake the last Vamp. Morbius flew down to join us and said to me.

"Thank you my friend I might not of made it, if it weren't for your help".

I think he would have yet I still basked in the praise but got myself under control fast. Some types Vampires could mess with minds so keeping calm and controlled was important.

Blade said nothing but for him that was approval all on its own.

"Its seems to be that you two are being hunted" I told the two slayers of the undead. "they set up an ambush here and lured you into a trap back when I mistook you for crooks".

Michael agreed.

"The tables have been turned on us and I've never seen them work so well together. Whoever is leading this group is clearly not only powerful but also very smart. It could be her Eric".

Ah Blade's mother. Best not to say anything.

"If it is then we need a new plan, and maybe Parker too".

Did the words 'secret identity' meaning nothing to these two?.

"Well we have a moment. May I ask your name?" inquired Morbius.

"Its Gothic" I told the science project gone wrong.

"I'd of gone with Black Hood or maybe Red Mask but no that one is being used" commented the mad scientist "Maybe Black Mask or Red Hood then, you know mix it up a little".

Really?. Those would be his choices. DC was so gonna sue.

"I'll stick with Gothic thank you".

Blade wasn't one for chit chat and was already reloading his crossbow.

"We'll never get the docks at this rate. Perhaps we should try the sewers and avoid the streets.

Oh yuck no thanks.

I'd never teleported with anyone tagging along and I don't think it would work with non-magicals. So maybe I should use the Band Of Blacknill. It would get us close but raise a lot of questions.

Worth it?, maybe these guys weren't likely to steal it and if I explained I was a hero over many worlds it would tell them why they'd never heard of me. Plus if they did try to take I could teleport myself away.

"I have an idea I told them but its a magic method unique to me ".

Which was mostly true.

"How does it work?" asked Morbius.

I told them that I travelled to other worlds by making doorways to them and that we could enter this world anywhere I wanted to from another as long as I knew where to go. Naturally they found this a little hard to swallow but I could prove it easily enough and the Band wouldn't have to seen or mentioned.

"You are a very powerful wizard" declared the self made vampire when he saw that we were clearly not in New York any more.

Soon we were at the docks and Blade decided to forgo a plan and burst into, as I'd guessed a warehouse full of Vampires, he must have a death wish in this version of Marvel.

He'd pushed his motorbike here and now turned on its front light which was a UV light that burned many leeches. Morbius stayed back and staked some more of the dead men.

I not effected by UV light charged forward and just made myself need time to slow down. It worked finally I could control it.

I then took Marlissa out of her scabbard. She'd remained quiet and would keep being so because talking swords were a bit much on this world even if magic wasn't.

These type of Vampires were to my surprise alive in some way not just animated corpses. I found this out because Marlissa was feeding. Not enough to kill the blood drinkers but well enough that a few of the female ones looked like they wanted to do more than just drink my blood.

Suddenly that peasant girl in Skyrim didn't seem so bad.

I hacked and slashed, removed limbs and a few heads. Time slowed again and I stabbed two in the heart with my dagger before they could react. Morbius helped by throwing vampires around adding to the confusion. We might be outnumberd as much as ten to one but somehow we were winning.

Blades headlamp burned more of them and they broke and ran some flying some running into the shadows.

"She's not here" cursed Blade "and we have no trail to follow".

"Hunting them would be pointless" reasoned Morbius "they will scatter to the four winds".

"We'd best return to Whistler" decided Blade.

He turned to me.

"Don't follow us" he warned.

Morbius frowned.

"Blade he killed more of them than I did and saved my life most likely, plus he smells human".

I did, that was good to know.

"Its not just us" replied Blade.

I butted in.

"Why don't we just meet here in say twenty four hours" I offered. "I'll be better equipped to fight Vampires then".

I wouldn't have a Colt but silver bullets were easy enough. I'd didn't know why Blade wasn't using them maybe he'd just run out. Silver weapons were cheap in Skyrim and for once Marlissa wasn't the best choice in sword. Best get something to protect my neck as well.

"Fine then, twenty fours hours" agreed Blade "but if your not here on time we'll leave without you".

I'd be there, I'd be there and have toys for all.

**The Sanctuary. Place Unknown. Time Is A Point Of View.**

Thankfully Heroes can go without much in the way of sleep because I hadn't gotten these last few nights.

Because it turns out that while silver bullets are possible they are hard to cast, a bitch to mass produce, make for less accurate shots and do less damage than a normal bullets.

But it can be done!.

Its expensive, its time consuming and the result is a gun that would be pointless to use on anything but a Vampire but I have two Colt .45-calibre pistols ready to kill some bloodsuckers with.

Then the guys helping me make the bullets me tell me a shotgun would be a better choice. The shells fired by a 12 gauge can be filled with silver beads re-hulled and then used as normal. This cost far less, wouldn't ruin the gun and took a fraction of the time. I'd wanted to hit them all very hard for telling me that sooner.

Well anyway I now had two Colt .45-calibre pistols and a shotgun able to kill Vampires. Stakes and a silver sword as well, but hopefully I wouldn't have to get that close.

I could not be more prepared.

Time to go hunt the living impaired.

(Author Note: I did research the idea of silver bullets and got conflicting information. Some sites said no silver bullets don't work others said they do work but are a pain in the ass another said yes it easy but its not worth the cost unless your hunting werewolves. So I went with silver make crappy bullets but they do work but only if you shoot like the Lone Ranger and can afford to have them made. Also Gothic needs his own some one to do the tech support. Any ideas?)

(Author Note 2: The Vampires in this version of Marvel aren't like the ones seen in the Blade film I mixed the lore a bit to make it more fun for me to write. But they are the virus spread type not demonic or actually undead as such even if Gothic thinks they are.)

**Warehouse. New York Docks. Marvel Verse.**

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!".

I'd just exited the door that had appeared only to discover that I was early and that the place was full of Vampires, again.

I mean really why would they return here given that they know Blade knows about this place. Unless its a trap but I don't think a few dozen vampires counts as a trap. These guys couldn't be that arrogant.

"Its the Black Mask" shouted one of them.

I shot him for that remark and found my silver bullets do work after all. Thankfully the bad guys here didn't wear armour or anything.

They'd never seen a gun that could kill them before so they panicked, quite a human reaction for such inhuman things. Being immortal they feared death more than humans which only got more of them killed as I emptied two clips into the mass of monsters. Rather than unload I just dropped the pistols and used the shotgun to pick off any blooddrinker I could find. The ones that ran didn't get far as Blade and Michael took them on.

"I didn't think you would appear inside the warehouse" apologised the bat nosed man "or I would of come to help you".

"I didn't think they would return here" I said explaining my logic "it makes no sense for them to use the same place twice".

"They are being more reckless than usual" agreed Blade. "Its good thing you had silver bullets".

Ah so did exist here as well and if they were just as much as pain to create here I could see why he preferred stakes.

"Don't use them?" I asked.

"Not that practical" he explained "too costly and noisy but then again they don't normally group together like this".

"I think we are victims of our own success" reasoned the self made Vampire "They are gathering together for safety in numbers".

A tactic that would work if it was just Blade they were fighting, but he had back up now.

"So what now?" I asked.

"I don't know" confessed Blade. "Unless Parker comes up with something we have no further leads".

Peter Parker would be able to track using his sources at the paper. Vampires created bodies and deaths made it into papers.

"Shame we don't have any police contacts" I said thinking out loud.

"We do" informed Morbius "but why is that important.

My research (well googling) and my memories told me he was talking about Terri Lee a detective that had worked with Spiderman.

I explained that we might find more Vampire hideouts if we found out were people were dying. Crime reports that sort of thing. Blade just laughed.

"How do you think we found this place" he pointed out.

Ah right he's the expert here.

"We'll then unless we find one alone and torture it for information I'm stuck" I admitted.

Michael seemed a bit shocked but Blade didn't seem bothered by idea of torturing someone.

"That might not be such a bad idea but its too much ground to cover even for three of us".

"You mean four" said a voice "sorry I'm late there was a mugging".

Spiderman was here. (and only mental discipline stopped me from fanboying all over him)

"You stopped for a mugging with Vampires lose in the city!" shouted Blade.

"Hey Blade, chill out " requested Peter Parker. "it worked out for the best".

Leading the group outside Spiderman showed us the Vampire he caught. He had it webbed up ready for us.

"This one couldn't fly right" explained Parker "looks like he took a bullet or two to the chest".

I must of missed the heart, twice.

"I'll take it from here" decided Blade who really wanted to hurt the leech but he wants to hurt them all so no surprises there.

"Is this necessary?" Spiderman asked Michael.

The science project gone wrong didn't answer so I did.

"Its cold I admit but we need to know what they are up to. Hundreds could die tonight if we don't stop whatever it is they are up to".

If events here followed the animated Spiderman show I watched in 90's then this might be the time Eric's mother tried to create an army of Vampires using the machine that made Morbius into one. If she wasn't stopped the Earth could be overrun by Vampires in a matter of weeks.

It was thankfully over quickly. Blade might be brutal but he was efficient at least. The leech didn't live long but we got what we needed and it was as I had predicted. The Vampire Queen was after a machine called the Neogenic something or other. Sounded like Trek speak to me.

This worked out nearly right enough as Black Cat wasn't with them yet either meaning, that Spiderman hadn't yet faced the challenges involving The Secret Wars or his evil alternate dimensional counterpart Spider-Carnage who would nearly destroy quite a few realities. I didn't think he would of destroyed everything more likely group of universes Spiderman in one form another existed in.

But I could worry about that later and I can't see how I would get involved anyway. Unless I killed Spiderman here and now everything should work out. Heroes have a habit of saving the day after all.

We were all about to rush off when I informed then I could get us there faster using my powers. Spiderman didn't know what I meant but the other two did.

I'd noticed that events were different than I remembered but they seemed to heading towards a similar conclusion. For example when we arrived at the lab Eric's vampire mother was indeed trying to steal the DNA altering machine. This could not be aloud or she would turn thousands perhaps of people into blood drinking fiends.

Lots of Vampires tried to stop us but they didn't do so well I had a weapon that could kill them ease so things looked as if they would work out better than they should have. Which of course was when the universes' desire for irony and drama kicked in.

Blade's mum nearly got away but I wasn't going to let Murphy get his way without at least trying to put up a fight. I emptied one of the silver bullet firing pistols at the funky DNA altering machine breaking it rather dramatical.

"No that machine was my only hope!" screamed my plasma drinking ally.

He didn't attack me for what I'd done but was rather sad about the whole thing and who could blame him, no one wanted to be a freak.

"I'm sorry Michael" I apologised "but that device was a threat to the whole world I had to destroy it".

He agreed but needed time to process this so he and Blade left returning to their base while Spiderman took the chance to talk to me once we were away from the lab we'd just trashed.

"You remind me of the Punisher only you know..".

"I'm not such a dick" I said completing his sentence.

"Well yeah, but don't tell him I said that".

I smiled under my magical mask.

"So who are you anyway?" asked Peter Parker "I don't mean your real name, but you've got to have a hero name".

"I don't know" I admitted "I'm new to all of this"

"How about 'The Masked Avenger'" he suggested.

I was going to protest but it was better than the others and given he worked for a newspaper it would in the paper soon enough as he'd likely gotten a picture of me.

"That'll do" I said. "At least until I draw the attention of the tabloids".

"So another crime fighter in New York or are you just passing through this world".

He knew I could cross realities but didn't pry since it was magic and not the science he loved.

"I'll pop by from time to time, help if I can" I assured him "and I have some advice for you".

"I'm all ears" he said by way of invitation.

"Listen to Madam Web, she not as crazy as she seems. Hold on to your sense of humour. And don't keep Mary Jane waiting. But most of all remember how your Uncle Ben influenced you for the better".

That should screw with his head a little and get him thinking, and so would this. I jumped off the building before he could react and summoned a door on the street level and ran to it.

That had been fun but I had to be more careful on how I interfered. I could of messed things up for Parker badly back there and ended up helping the Vampires purely by mistake.

Perhaps I should take some time to think things through and maybe spend in time in places were events couldn't be altered so drastically by one person.

Also I'd soon have classes to teach and had to be careful not mess that world up to much as well. Even the smallest change could bring around bigger ones. The fates of millions could be balanced on the edge of a knife so often I had to wonder how it all hadn't fallen apart. Perhaps higher powers helped us or the nature of the universe meant the battle between good and evil could never end. I just didn't know.

But I had a feeling that before long I'd find out.

It was going to be hard to be a hero and I had to admit it was tempting not to bother at all but I had become a Fable Hero for a reason greater than mere chance I was sure of it.

In the end thinking about this to much would just depress me it was better to try my best and adapt to the situation as needed. Anything else would just drive me crazy, not that I'd notice much difference.

Still despite my worries I had proven I could do the job. I'd helped save a world tonight or at least a lot of human lives. I think that should be enough for now.

At least teaching will be easy compared to running around in a costume fighting bad guys.

Right?.


	4. Chapter 4

**Maben00**

**I'll do my best to keep the stories coming and I'm glad you like them.**

**Selias.**

**You can add extra reviews to the forum if you want. I like discussing my work so I'd welcome them. **

**Yes I'm rather pleased with the rewrite myself, clearly linking Hero and Overlord Gothic that early on was a mistake so I just removed it. Maybe they will met one day but until Hero Gothic has his own adventures to deal with. **

**Yeah the teaching thing hit me when I stopped trying to make Hero Gothic a more noble version of Overlord Gothic. Instead I thought about Superheroes and came up with two things that would be good in the story. **

**The first a Fortress of Solitude/ Batcave / whatever hideaways other heroes have. **

**The second was their secret identities the normal lives they have the job they do when there not out saving the world. I though it would amusing to have that in the story.**

**I use to want to be a teacher and needed a hideaway that could be hidden the Wizarding World seemed to offer both. **

**As for the alternate versions of the same 'theme' of universe well what's the point of a infinite universe if you only get one version of anything. **

**Master Fire Ball. **

**I will focus on this story for a while as I'm running out of things for Overlord Gothic to do anyway and as for Emperor Gothic I'm not sure what I'm doing with that character he's not really what I was intending to write. **

**Why don't you like Emperor Gothic anyway?. **

**Hero Gothic. Book One. Part Four.**

**Platform Nine and Three Quarters. **

I had to wonder about the nine and three quarters part. If this platform is between platforms nine and then shouldn't it be called platform nine and a half?. Is the three quarters bit important some how is the platform somehow closer to ten than nine.

And how does fit?.

Is the platform physically in the station or is it somewhere else and the its just the entrance that is here?.

If its physically here does it occupy a three dimensional space that's somehow squeezed between platforms nine and ten or did the wizards wait until platform ten was built and then hide from the Muggles who forgot about it and built another platform thinking that was now number ten.

I shook my head and tried to get rid of such thoughts. The Wizarding World didn't work logically compared to the Muggle one because Muggles use things like science which have far stricter rules than magic which seem to be suggestions at best.

For the sake of my sanity I was just going to have accept that things worked and not try to understand why they worked. Which in my opinion is a bad thing most of the time because as soon as you stop questioning the world around you and just start accepting it as it is, that is day you might as well go and stand around in a field with the rest of the sheep and start saying baa.

Still it would be hard to question anything if I drove myself nuts so for now I'd let it go and sit on the train that stood waiting on a platform that's existence abuses logic so hard that the Vuclans in Star Trek are feeling it

I tried to think back to what I remembered of the train ride in this book. If I remembered right this was the year that Hermione (the girl I wished to mould into someone who could aid in my work) became a prefect. I should let her know I am on board in case the prefects need help.

It wasn't normal for a teacher to ride to the school on the Hogwarts Express as the children were suppose to be supervised by the prefects. There was no reason not to either its just that most of the staff prefer to ensure that everything is ready at the school before the students arrive. The House Elves do most of the menial work but stuff like arranging the time tables, deciding which classrooms will be used and so on requires the staff to spent September 1st working together.

However since I couldn't help with that the Deputy Headmistress had said I should stay out of the way and arrive in time for The Sorting. I could of easily just opened a door in Hogsmead and walked to the school whenever I wished but I decided to take the train and informed the The Deputy Headmistresses stating that I enjoyed travelling and as I hadn't attended Hogwarts as a student I should take to use the train.

She'd thought this a rather good idea and asked me to keep an eye on things. Officially there was no reason to as Voldemort wasn't active (or even alive according to the government) but given the school inspectors.

Which I was prepared for more than the other teachers as schools on my world do have an inspecting body call OFFSTEAD whose job is to what Fudge's team was just pretending to do. Which is to ensure schools are doing what they exist to do. Ideally educate young people and prepare them for lives as adults.

Still she'd thought that maybe having a teacher patrolling the train would set a good tone for the quiet year the staff had planned for the inspecting groups viewings. And gone on to warn me about certain trouble makers. The twins were mentioned at least once every other sentence. She never even used their names it was The Twins. Said in the same way I might mention Unspeakable Horrors.

I got the feeling that Fred and George might be worse pranksters in this version of events than the one I'd read in the books. If so I best be careful and try to find away to get them off my back. It was just a shame Potter had already even them the Triwizard winnings otherwise I would of invested in their store idea in exchange for immunity from pranks.

I'd also been warned about the Golden Trio and I didn't to guess who she meant by that. Those three tended to get their Defence Against The Dark Arts teachers involved in their adventures. I'd reminded myself that Potter had actually killed his first Defence Teacher. Granted it was a clear cut case of self defence, but it did set a pattern.

Lockhart was currently relearning how to write his own name and Crouch Jr was a soulless empty vessel not long for this world. Only Remus Lupin had left the job intact but that had been a close one. Clearly Voldemort's curse on the job was behind this it must not react well to Potter being in the school.

But perhaps I could break the curse. I'd gotten the class renamed to Magical Defence (the exam board didn't mind as it didn't change anything other than what is was called) and I'd signed a contract that only hired me till the week before the end of the school year meaning so I wouldn't the job for the whole school year technically speaking.

If that didn't break the curse I'd just have to hope my Hero powers allowed to survive whatever it was that would not let me return for another year.

The train whistled telling everyone to move their asses or be left behind and I went and found a seat.

I felt a little vulnerable without Marlissa and my shotgun (which I'd named Killsalot) but under my expensive imitation of a Muggle business suit I had the first of two Colts I ordered made. Finally I had a gun that could pretty much kill anything. Plus I still had a wand (although I didn't know that many spells) and of course my own magic which seemed to be growing stronger my adventures over the last few weeks.

I'd just helped some of the heroes from the 90's era Spiderman animated series, which included a version of Blade the Daywalker, to stop a Vampire Queen from brining about the end of mankind via some funky bit of DNA altering technology.

The quest, for lack of a better term, had gained me quite a few XP points it seemed as I had learned to slow down the passage of time around me. This was a powerful bit of magic and very useful as if you control the pace of a battle then victory is nearly always yours.

The train left the station and I tried to see if the Hogwarts Express was actually in London at all but I just saw countryside as soon as we left the station. The entire track must be cut of from the Muggle world.

Rather than amaze me I was actually rather disappointed at this. Wizards could do so much more with magic if they would just try. Yet instead they lived like uncaring nobles growing fat off the work of others rather than achieve some great things that were possible with such power.

Maybe that was just the hero in me talking. I shouldn't judge this lot to harshly, most of them just wanted to live a quiet life with family and friends. Had I grown up in their world I would be the same.

The difference between them and me was that not only was I told I could to do great things when I was trained and encouraged to do so. I also had the power to enforce the changes that I wanted to make.

I waited until everyone had settled down before wandering the corridors letting my presence be known. I spotted Malfoy and his goons throwing their weight around (literary in Crabbe and Goyles cases) and couldn't help but smile. Ah school bullies, I'd been bullied myself so a chance for little pay back was to sweet to resist.

Malfoy was making his speech that could be summed up as 'The Dark Lord will get you Potter and your little dog too' which could actually happen if Black gets himself killed by the end of school year.

"Hello,hello what's all this then?" I said doing my impression of a stereotypical English police officer.

"Who are you?" asked either Crabbe or Goyle.

Whichever one of them it was he seemed to be doing his Neanderthal impression, it was very good.

"I'm Professor Mason your new Magical Defence teacher" I replied using the accent Damien Mason was known for, a little posh for my taste but it easy to fake.

That had an effect on dumb and dumber but Mafloy Jr wasn't impressed.

"And who might you be then?" I asked Draco. "Aside from a perfect not behaving like one".

"Draco Malfoy" he replied sounding proud of his name. "You must of heard of my father".

"No, is he is famous or something?" I asked.

Draco seemed to look ill for a second before he decided to insult me.

"You can't possible be a teacher, your far to young. Wait until my farther hears about this he'll talk to the school board, you won't last a week".

"If you father, whoever that is, has a problem with me I'd be happy to speak with him. I'd like to discuss your attitude with him in any case as if you carry on like this you won't a prefect for long".

I'd won this round but he wouldn't back down. But I wasn't worried about him or his scumbag of a dad. Unless they were very clever in how they attacked me they weren't much of threat to my life and I had resources they couldn't hope to deal with.

His threats were empty anyway. Only Dumbledore could hire and sack the teachers as he wasn't going to let me go he needed me at the school to block Fudge's attempts to get one of his people onto the staff.

I looked inside the cabin to see Potter with the youngest Wesley, Longbottom and Lovegood. The blond caught my eye due to the upside down magazine and the fact that she had her wand stuck behind her ear.

I decided to watch this one as well, she was noticeably different than the others which might mean she was worth investing some time and effort into over the next year. I was planning to run a Defence Club and would invite in her along with some other choice students.

"And what was that about?" I questioned the group

"Just Malfoy running his mouth off" reported Harry dismissively.

There was a small tone of rage in Potters voice. But I couldn't blame him for being a bit angry. Were I in his place they'd be cleaning up the bodies by now.

"He was threatening you" I pointed out "as a teacher I have to ask, why?".

"Draco is scared so he lashes out" explained Lovegood. "he hides his real feelings".

That seemed to be all the answer I was going to get but perhaps it was for the best. I didn't want to get involved in this little drama. I had bigger things to deal with and really the coming civil was insignificant compared to conflicts going on in other realities.

So I let the matter drop and did my patrol keeping an eye on the train until the lady with the sweets trolley made her rounds and I stopped for lunch.

Which was something I came to regret soon enough as the food was clearly aimed at children and pumpkin flavoured foods were the only alternative to sweets.

I hate pumpkin so much that when I carve Halloween lanterns I disappointed by the lack of blood. So I ended up eating chocolate and drinking the one drink that was not pumpkin juice, which turned out to be butterbeer which is awful too.

They better have some grown up food at the welcoming feast or I indeed may not end up lasting the week.

It was tempting to make a door appear and go hit a takeaway as I could murder a kebab, actually right now I would in fact murder someone for a kebab but lucky for the trolley Witch she didn't have one.

I did another patrol and met with Granger and her red headed puppy Ron who didn't react well to me paying her attention even after I explained I was a professor. However the conversation proved fruitful even with the Weasel trying to make Hermione leave with him.

I learned to two things of vital importance.

The first was that Granger had already settle for the ginger nut but clearly he was the second prize in a race she'd lost for the better of two young men.

I could tell this as she was knowingly or unknowingly trying to modify his behaviour to make a more suitable future husband . Like you do with a child or disobedient dog, you have to enforce your dominance and repeat the lesson till its sinks in.

Sadly for this girl trying to teach Ron Weasley to act like a grown up is a lot like trying to batter down a brick wall with a rusty sledgehammer. Sure you'd get there in the end, assuming the hammer didn't break, but by then you'd realise it wasn't really worth all the effort you put into it, and that you should of hired a professional

Luring her away from him should be simple enough once we got past the teacher - student thing. I wouldn't be her teacher for long anyway and there are ways to make it worth the guilt. Helping her save her best friends life should do the trick.

I felt a little bad about this as I was still going to try and seduce a fifteen year old but I wanted to someone in my life powerful enough to keep up with me some of the time and smart enough not always try and keep up.

Lovegood could be the same but she was too young even for just the emotional aspects of such a partnership. There's a limit to how far I'm willing to go to get what I need anyway.

More importantly than any of that was that she told were the grown up snacks were. The tea and coffee was hidden from the kids because lets face it add that much caffeine to the amount of sugar these brats had access to and you might as well plant a bomb on the train as it would have the same result and less trouble to clean up. Plus the perfects hoarded the coffee like it was Dwarf Gold.

The rest of the train ride went by peacefully, aside from having to stop The Twins from testing a nasty looking joke product, and soon we pulled into the station. I went to find a carriage and discovered that I couldn't see the Thestrals.

This bothered me as I'd seen death before and even killed a few people, quite a few if you count Vampires as people, so why couldn't as I see the creatures that pull the carriages. Maybe you had see someone you cared about die, it could have something to with grief. I didn't grieve for those I'd killed because I didn't care that they were dead. They'd been trying to kill me after all.

I got into the carriage and got to met Cho Chang and another girl one I didn't know. Normally sitting with two young ladies might be a pleasant thing but neither girl would stop talking about their feelings. And seemed to want to inform me of the reasons why they were feeling things.

Damn teenagers. I am to old for this crap and I'm not even thirty.

But at least the ride was a short one and I left the carriage to go sit at the one empty seat at the staff table as soon as I saw Dumbledore my Occlumency was practised and I projected the thoughts and feelings of Damien Mason. Magical Defence teacher and world traveller who had just returned to his native lands and wished to settle done.

Compartmentalising my existence I became who I said I was an no one knew the difference. This was how Barty Crouch Junior had been able to hide right under Dumbledore's nose and I would now repeat that success for my own needs.

The Sorting Hat did its job and sang a song which I ignored as I get enough advice from Marlissa I don't need any from another talking inanimate object.

The new crop of students were processed into their houses and the feast began which thankfully had grown up food. The House Elves really did good work which made me hope Granger had given up on S.P.E.W because aside from being a silly name (I'd of gone with House Elf Liberation Front so it would be called HELF a mixture of help and Elf.) it would never of worked as the only way to make an major social changes around here would be to become the next Voldemort.

After a nice meal and a better pudding, and the reading of school notices I was ready for an early night and a day of teaching tomorrow as September 1st of this year had fallen on a Sunday.

I was introduced formally to the school body and after polite clapping of hands I got to go to bed. Sadly once again alone, which given that I had the power to seduce women and enthral them was odd. I really should get a fuck buddy.

**Magical Defence Classroom. Hogwarts School.**

My first class were the NEWT level students in their second to last year. For this class I got to decide who got in because I didn't have to have students below a certain grade. So it was a small class as only those who'd gotten an E or higher add applied anyway. The work load would be hard but with less students in the room I'd be able to give them more help so it worked out well.

As for the students doing their OWL exams this year and next Magical Defence wasn't optional at that level so I still had full classes. Given that Fudge didn't want the students knowing how to fight I had thought that this might change but it hadn't. At least the first two years wouldn't be much of chore they just had to learn about magical creatures and how to deal with them.

The smaller class was more eager as they had to want to be here to get in. The fact that the class had gone and changed names worried them but I assured the exams would be the same it was just the way the class was taught that would be different. I would be focusing on using magic to defend not just on how to deal with the dark arts.

I gave them a few more details such as what times were best to knock my office door if they need help and that this course would be light on home work (which was met with smiles) and light on practical (which created frowns) this was a necessary evil due to the inspectors. I'd cram a bit of practical if they came for help as long as they didn't mention to anyone but only those who came for help would get the practicals.

I encouraged them to use their lack of homework as a chance to study the materials on offer in the library as I admitted I was new to this and that they should always seek more sources of information. This might make a few lose confidence in me but I'd rather they get the information right under the noses of the inspectors than have their education suffer because my hands were tied.

I knew the government investigating body would be focusing on the staff and the lessons not on what books the students were reading in the library so this was really for the best.

"Rather than teach you how to curse people trying to curse you I will be showing you how to defend and evade attacks. A battle avoided is a battle you can't lose".

"That seems a little cowardly" stated ones of the loins.

"No its sensible" I countered "your not Hit-Wizards and even if some of you will do join law enforcement you'll find what I hope to teach useful to know as your jobs will to arrest people not to send them to St Mungos".

That was a line I'd made up for the Ministry spies that would be viewing my classes later in the week but saying now it was a good idea as I wouldn't past Fudge to put pressure on some of the parents of these kids to get them to report what was going on this school.

"Remember this is Magical Defence, not Magical Fighting" I added.

"Why the name change?" asked a Ravenclaw girl who was studying me intently.

"As far as I know there are no Dark Wizards running amok so I will be teaching you to deal with things other than the Dark Arts" I explained "Creatures and Muggles are the main dangers out there".

"Muggles" snorted a snake in bad need of braces "they aren't dangerous".

I'd so been hoping one of them would say that.

"What's you name?" I asked the young man.

"Flint" he replied.

"Well Mr. Flint, how would you defend against a Muggle with a gun".

"What's a gun?" he asked.

I smiled and strode around the well lit classroom that Lockhard had once used.

"I think you just answered your own question" I stated as I walked between the rows of desks. "you dismiss Muggles but don't even know how they would attack you".

A few of the other houses laugh at the student at Flint. And I got the impression that this wasn't the first time.

"A gun or firearm is a Muggle weapon that shoots a small bit of lead at very high speeds at the target" I informed. "Now you can block an arrow with a shield easy enough but arrows move quite slowly compared to bullets".

"How can something so small hurt us" asked a Hufflepuff lad.

I smiled again and adjusted my collar.

"Bullets can kill because while they are small they move very fast. I'll give you an example".

I gently tossed a button at one student who didn't react and then threw another button much harder.

"The second button was the same as the first only it travelled faster, of course buttons don't hurt but you'd feel it more. Bullets travel so fast that they will break your skin and enter your body".

I showed them a bullet and just when I had them worried (and possibly writing home) I made them feel safe again.

"Thankfully guns are rare in Britain and most Muggles around here don't own a gun but that's not true everywhere. I was nearly shot by a crossbow once and but I managed to block it but had been a gun I might not of been fast enough".

Which was totally true. If that highwaymen had been armed with a rifle I would have been shot. I might actually of survived it as even low level Heroes are hard to kill. But while wizards deal with blunt force very easily (their favourite sport being an example) a bullet is not the same thing.

Well telling them about such things might seem like it would get me into trouble with Fudge it actually wouldn't. I wasn't teaching them to fight I was making them think about dangerous the world outside of theirs was.

And on the flip side the staff would see me warning their students of possible dangers as forewarned is forearmed.

"The most likely attack a Muggle might use is that of a knife".

Knives could be dangerous. Wormtail had cut his own hand off so these guys could be chopped up it would just take more work for the guys with the knife to actually kill them.

Wizards got around this by not being seen by not existing. They wiped memories and made their homes invisible to the non-magical parts of humanity. You can't attack what you can't find after all.

I did wonder how this would last when things like camera phones came about, wiping someone's memory doesn't wipe the video they might of taken.

I suspected that their were Muggles out there helping to keep the Wizards and other supernatural things hidden. But I had no proof of this and wouldn't do anything about it if I did as keep the two worlds apart was important.

"But we can use magic to protect ourselves from daggers" argued another student.

I was tempted to move fast and put a knife right in the face of the student who said that to prove how little being able to use magic means sometimes but I didn't want to go from teacher to terroriser, they had Snape for that. Best to make them think that being able disarm or disable a Muggle would keep them safe because it would since they'd just wipe a muggers memories afterwards.

"Of course you can" I agreed "I'm here to teach you how to use that magic in defence. Its no good saying I can use magic if you don't know in advance what spell your going to use. Do you stun them?. Transfigure the knife or just disarm your attacker. The time it takes to make that choice isn't time you have when under attack".

They were all paying attention to me now, hanging on every word. So maybe I was better at teaching than I'd thought or my charisma stat had a lot of points in it.

Either way it looked like I'd be good at this job as long I could deal with inspectors.

**Headmaster's Office. Hogwarts School. **

So Severus what do you make of our new staff member" asked Albus Dumbledore. "is he working for Tom or the Ministry?".

"Neither I think" replied the reformed Death Eater "but I can't be sure as he occludes his mind".

Dumbledore knew this but had wondered if during his attempts at the opening feast if the man had simply been as ease as he appeared and just didn't have any traitorous thoughts to read. But no Mason could shield his mind and rather well. Snape had simply confirmed what Albus already knew.

"It does not mean that he is a spy" reasoned Snape. "If he is as well travelled as he said he may have simply picked it up during his wanderings. The magical monks of Tibet are well known for teaching the mind arts to anyone who can pass their silly tests".

That made sense, and it did invite a certain opportunity.

"I was thinking of having young Damien teach Harry Potter that art" remarked Dumbledore "you are more skilled at Occumancly but you must admit that you and Harry have never really gotten on".

Snape for once didn't rant about Potter but only because he had other things on his mind.

"Is that wise, Headmaster?" queried the potions teacher "its not something easy to teach and he may ask questions as to why he is being asked to teach it to Potter".

Dumbledore couldn't teach Harry they had to kept apart and Snape was the only member of the order who had mastered the mind arts so completely. Still Mason might be the better choice as he seemed to have little interest in the Boy-Who-Lived but he seem to enjoy teaching for the sake of it. His classes were the main subject of gossip at the moment, more so than they should be even for a new teacher. Students were discussing, some loudly, about the merits of what he was teaching despite there having been a few classes.

"The one thing that really makes me believe his life story is that he is sleeping with _Sinistra" informed the Potions Master. "if he were spy he wouldn't risk such late night meetings and the House Elves inform me _that hangover relief potions have been sent to his rooms".

Ah that was interesting thought Dumbledore. Not the sleeping together part as that was no of Dumbledore's business as long as they were discreet about it and it didn't interfere with their work. After all a few couples had met and gone on to marry while working at this school. No what peeked Dumbledore's notice was the hangovers. That meant drinking (not an uncommon thing for staff and older students) and a spy wouldn't risk getting drunk in case he said something he shouldn't.

"Very well then" decided Dumbledore "I wish for you to tell Professor Mason that I wish for Harry to learn to occlude his mind. And that running the school during this inspection leaves me with no time do it myself and that I would be grateful if he would arrange the lessons".

"Your planning on keeping him on for another year aren't you" realised Snape.

"Don't worry my friend you will get the Magical Defence job" assured Dumbledore "Mason, if he proves trustworthy, will be next years Muggle Studies Professor. That class clearly needs someone whose knows about Muggles teaching it".

"Did you hear that some of the NEWT students are trying to find spells to stop these Muggle firearms?" asked Snape.

"I did" answered Dumbledore "and I thinks that it is a good thing. If the inspectors are worried about me having the students taught to fight the Ministry then this worry about Muggles will confuse Fudge".

Dumbledore had seen some of World War Two while tracking down his old lover. He knew how dangerous Muggles could be but didn't fear them as the Wizarding World was to well hidden to be attacked with tanks and planes. Mason must of seen Muggles fighting in some of the rougher parts of the world and become worried about what would happen if Wizards and Muggles went to war. It wasn't likely to happen but anything that got the students thinking about how to make themselves safer was a good thing right now.

"I'll talk to Mason tomorrow" declared Snape "I'll make sure he understands that the inspectors aren't to know about this. And I'll warn him how difficult Potter can be to teach".

**Risa. The United Federation Of Planets. **

Harry Potter was turning out to be hard to teach I'd had his first class and a group of inspectors at the same time, what a nightmare.

That's why I'd come to Risa to relax about the same time Picard had visited the world in Next Generation. I'd even gotten his autograph. The request had surprised the man to much to annoy him, and I'd explained that I was a student of history and he was making history so why not get a few words from him now. After that though I did leave him alone so he could met Vash without any interference. Plus the guy really needed some peace and quiet.

Currently one of the locals (a human born on this world not an alien) was rubbing my feet with some sort of milk. It felt great and I needed this after today's lesson.

Potter had actually gone and said Voldemort was back right in front of the goons from the Ministry. I had to despair that this was the future saviour of the Wizarding World. He might be more magically powerful than me but he didn't a tenth of my control. It's a good thing for that world that I don't intend to fight for either side because by the end of it I'd be in charge and they'd be bowing before me. Which might be kinda fun but it would get old fast, the paperwork alone would kill me.

Now the girl on her knees rubbing my feet, she could stay there all day as far I was concerned. In fact she seemed quite happy to as she'd said she'd never met a man like me before and she was right. Not that I could show her how different as I was what would be called an Augment in these parts and likely arrested for not staying put on the reserves on Earth or whatever it was they put the non-crazy Augmented humans in.

I sipped my fruit drink and tried to think of a way to get Potter to act like a proper hero rather than an emo brat with the intelligence of a pet rock. He was handling this so badly.

In his shoes I would have said something like.

'Hold on a moment Dumbledore's got a pensive why don't I just show you all what I saw the graveyard'.

Or even.

'Hey what about the truth potion you have a few drops of that and then let me tell what really happened after Cedric and I picked up the Triwizard trophy'.

Dumb ass kid.

No instead he'd rather spend his time being verbally abused so he can build up his teen angst levels while pissing off his teachers and friends. It would save everyone a lot of time if he just started self harming and wrote bad poems while listening to other whiny emos sing songs that express the same feelings he's having.

Then again was any better at that age?.

Hmm maybe I shouldn't judge him to harshly he does have a crappy life but its hard not to hate the lad and I have to teach that bag of hormones how to defend himself. Which brought me back to why I was hundreds of years into the future in other dimension having my feet rubbed my a peace loving sexually liberated hippy.

Maybe I should try and mentor the boy. He really needs one and Dumbledork doesn't seem to be doing a good job of it.

I sighed, drank more of my fruit drink and wondered if I should set up my 'secret identity' somewhere less stressful like say a Middle East warzone.

Still it hadn't all been bad. I'd bagged myself a nice 'girlfriend' one Aurora Sinistra a witch about my age who teaches astronomy at the school. I still can't understand why that subject was taught as I saw benefit to the students knowing about all planets in the solar system and their moons. Its not as if their planning to visit any of them. But while the subject seemed silly to me the woman teaching the class was anything but silly.

Aurora Sinistra was a no nonsense kind of person who took her work very seriously. But she also had a wild side to her which I discovered after only a few days in the castle. She'd shown up my door with a bottle of some sort of spirits and invited herself in. After a few drinks, which had less of an effect on me than most people because of my metabolism ( Its takes a lot to get a Hero drunk and we recover fast when we do but even a half of bottle of strong spirits isn't enough), she'd opened up and admitted that she wanted to have some fun. The kind of fun were your naked and get sweaty.

Once you get that gaudy hat and even gaudier robes off her she's one hell of a sexy thing and seems years younger when her hair is let down (both figuratively and not) in fact she's younger than me despite having been born ten years before I was but since its 1996 there our ages match up close enough if you do the maths.

Thinking of Aurora, which I may only call her in private since she had a strict persona around the students, I should get back soon. She teaches at night so around 2 AM she knocks on my door and doesn't leave for a few hours. Thankfully I can get by on little sleep a couple of hours here and there and I'm golden.

And she's worth staying up late for. Plus I don't have to worry about any of the older female students who have started flirting with me. Women seem to know when another woman has her claws into you. I have no idea how they know but its always clear to them.

I stood up and said to the little vixen who'd been rubbing me.

"Thanks for the rub, my dear. I'd tip you but you don't use money here".

I made a door appear to 1996's Muggle London as I planned to pick up some dinner before heading home.

**Muggle London. Chinese Takeaway. **

"Sorry love, I don't speak Chinese"

The woman just ranting in her native speech until the man I assumed was her husband spoke in English.

"You just beat up three armed men with a saucepan and a ladle!" screamed the owner of this fine takeaway restaurant

Looking at the 'weapons' in my hand I realised that yes I had just beaten up three armed thugs with a saucepan and a ladle.

"What" I remarked "it was the closet thing to hand".

While waiting for my order of Chinese food (Hogwarts food was great but I missed the more multicultural diet I was use to so I had popped out for something to eat before Aurora turned up for her late night hanky panky) when three armed men had burst in looking to rob the place. Which was silly of them for two reasons.

The first was that this was a restaurant not a bank so didn't have the kind of money that made a robbery worth while.

Second was that I had been there.

I hadn't been carrying any weapons aside from one of my kill nearly anything Colts and the bullets for that are expensive so I'd planned to just let them rob the place and not risk anyone getting shot. Right up until the point once of those bastards had dared to touch my honeydew ribs, for that he had to be made to suffer.

I'd grabbed the first two heavy things my hands could find and then gone on to kick ass. I'd quickly disarmed and beat up the three guys who hadn't gotten a shot off since their guns turned out not be real.

Now I had to leave before the police arrived but once thing first.

"Do you guys have CCTV?" I asked.

The three people running this business nodded.

"I'll need the tape" I told them

Thankfully it was 1996 so this meant an actual tape and not some digital video that would need removing from a hard drive.

I had to take the tape because without it there would be no proof that a superhero had stopped a robbery with kitchen implements. It would just become another urban legend that only the Sun newspaper would ever print.

After I'd grabbed the tape and left them some money to replace it I finally got to job home and enjoy my dinner.

**My Bedroom. Hogwarts.**

My quarters in the school were rather large as they included my office, bedroom and bathroom. The classroom was also right next to these rooms so my life at the school was well contained.

Made me wonder why I'd brought a stately home but then I remembered I had all the gold in the world. Not this world but one of them so I might as well spend it.

The bed was great a nice king sized bed which royal purple sheets that I never had to make since this place had House Elves who actually enjoyed that sort of boring work. Saved me from having to clean up after nights like these.

"So this is China food?" asked Aurora as we sat on the bed naked eating my dinner.

"Its Chinese, and yes" I replied.

"Did you ever go to China?" she questioned.

I hadn't as of yet, but everyone with a TV has seen the Great Wall so I lied easily about seeing it in person.

"I've never left Britain" my sexy friend admitted.

I couldn't imagine that. Even before I'd become a Hero and seen some of my world. I'd been to Belgium when I was three. I remembered because a dog stole my ice cream and godmother chased it off. I went to France once as well and met loads of people who spoke English oddly enough, and eaten baguettes every morning and square pizza for lunch.

Aurora had spent most of her childhood and nearly all of her adult years in his building. I felt for sorry for her. She was afraid of the world. The only reason she was here with me was because she'd been so curious about my life, not that I was complaining.

She spent all her time looking into space and had little idea of what was going on around her, and didn't care to get involved even if you told her. But oddly enough this is what made her such a perfect bed partner for me. She didn't want that much from me and wouldn't stop me from going out and doing I wanted. She asked for no feelings from me but gave me just what I needed. In return I spoilt her with things like exotic foods and physical attention.

And also lessons on how to use chopsticks. Which isn't as easy as it looks but once you get the hang of it you never forget how. Kind of like riding a bike or having sex. Which was about to happen again given that the meal was coming to an end.

The lady Astronomer had quite the sexual appetite (which Marlissa was happy about as she got some of the energy we used when having sex) and for someone who'd confessed to have had sex a total of three times before meeting me she was very good at it.

Of course compared to me she was a novice (as I'd had sex more than three times in one night before I'd turned seventeen) but a fast learner. And she was also one of the quiet ones, one of the people you don't notice much. In my experience its those girls who are the best in bed because once they get past the shyness there willing to try new things even if they don't sound like that much fun. For example Aurora enjoyed anal sex and I was so gonna get me some of that sweet ass.

I moved in and kissed her neck, giving her a few gentle bites which she liked and it got her nice and relaxed. I wasn't the making love type but she didn't mind as long as I held back on pounding her. Thankfully her kind of magical human is harder to hurt than most humans so I didn't have to worry about my strength which super human and could led me to hurting more delicate women.

My bed partner signalled her willingness to be fucked by grabbing my cock with her hand and pointing it towards the holes I could make us of, not her mouth as she only gave me oral sex at the start of the nights activities and a hand job at the end before she left me to get a few hours sleep.

I rolled her over and spread her cheeks and I was about to enter her when she said.

"Let me use the charm".

She used a quick spell that made anal sex easier on the women by numbing the area cast on but only so much that it dulled pain. That way healers could ask 'does this hurt' without the screaming. There were ways to make her bum completely numb but then she would react at all and I wouldn't enjoy if she didn't squirm a little. Sometimes a little pain mixed with pleasure can feel good.

I drove my dick inside her and starting pounding her large butt which while bigger than most looked good on her. I also used my hands to squeeze her large breasts and big pointy nipples, harder than I should have but judging by the sounds my fellow teacher was making she wasn't going to try and stop me.

Sinistra pushed her hips into me so I could go in deeper and it felt great. She was so warm all over and she seemed eager for me to fuck her all I wanted. She even took my left hand in hers so we both rub her cunt as I fucked her other hole.

It didn't take much to get her going and soon I was fingering her wet pussy and pounding her ass at the same time and she loving every second of it.

Sadly all good things must 'cum' to and end. I wouldn't be able to do this forever as it simply felt to good. But in this way she was also a good bed partner, as soon as I said I was about to finish she encouraged me to cum inside her rather than worry about her own orgasm which were plentiful given my stamina, which was actually super human as well.

Something that she commented upon.

"I'm glad I know the spells" she commented. "otherwise I wouldn't sitting down all day after our nightly activities".

They had spells for everything here. It was all so easy that I'm surprised they aren't all total hedonists. I guess something must compel them to get out of bed other than there jobs. They did like to show off so that would explained why they actually put some effort to making things and keeping everything looking so good. Granted the House Elves did most of the work but they were artists or craftsmen of great skill so at the Wizards seem to actually spend making things.

"Well we don't have to do this every night" I pointed out.

"Not getting tired of me are you?" she teased.

"Of course not" I told her "I just worried about tiring you out, don't want you falling asleep when you should be teaching".

"Your the one who has get up in a few hours" she reminded.

"I don't need much sleep" I told her "I haven't seen I became an adult".

A unknown fact to many is that there are Wizards and Witches who can do things other can't either naturally like that Tonks or because they spent many months learning how like Animagi. (something I meant to look into). One of those that some magical people can do is go without much sleep. They still need some but they can get by on far less than others. Its a rare gift that I don't have since my being able to go without sleep for days on end is to with being a Fable Hero, but its a good excuse.

"I'll have to go soon" she remarked "papers to grade, you know how it is".

Did I ever I'd assigned one essay and already I was failing people. Mostly it was my fault the teachers around here don't assign essay questions they just make demands like.

"Explain the use of lacewing flies in the calming potion' or 'Describe the effects of the Goblin Rebellion of 1798 had on Magical Britain'.

I on the other hand used essay questions like.

'How would you use magic to defend yourself against Muggle attacking you with a knife'

The essays I'd gotten back were better written by the less intelligent students because they'd actually answered the question rather than do what Granger had. Which was find ten other works on the same subject then quoted them explained what they meant before offering a summery of how she agreed with them.

Her essay had failed because she'd never answered the question she'd just told me how others thought it should be done.

Malfoy had written a piece that just stated that Muggles weren't dangerous at all because they animals. Which is silly for two reasons. One is that animals can be very dangerous and second was because again that wasn't I had asked.

Why can't they just answer the question!.

I decided to skip sleeping and go out and kill something, but after I got my goodnight hand job.

**Sunnydale. Restfield Cemetery.**

I decided to quickly pop over to Buffy's world and find a few Vampires to kill. Aside from that this world held little interest for me I was just here to blow off some steam.

It took less then ten seconds to find a Vampire, there like rats they seemed to be everywhere and are equally hard to exterminate as the furry little rodents.

They do however make great punching bags what with being dead and all, they don't expire just because you hit them a lot or even if break nearly every bone in their bodies.

"You know I thought teaching at Hogwarts would be fun" I told the no name Vampire as I punched him into a wall. "I'd educate some kids. Get to know the staff. Maybe even kill a few Deatheaters".

The Vampire got up again tried to attack me and got kicked in the head for his trouble as I back flipped in to the air in a move than would make the Slayer green with envy.

"But no! Its all paper work and marking badly written essays!".

The blood drinker charged again so I side stepped and whacked him in the back. The dead guy who looked as if he hadn't changed his clothes since the 80's went head first into a gravestone.

"And the students, don't get me started on them".

"I didn't you get started on anything!" protested the animated corpse.

In reply I grabbed the leeches' hair and slammed his head into the gravestone.

"Walking bags of hormones the lot of them" I declared. "I have no idea how the other teacher cope and the house rivals its insane. Even decades after leaving the school they are still divided by what group they were in at school. Its like they want to know who they should hate for the rest of their lives from the age of elven onwards. You can't tell me that's in anyway right".

The Vampire could talk back any more as it was so much pain and they don't heal fast enough to recover from this sort of beating not unless they get plenty of blood.

"And the staff, there no help. You'd think they'd have some good advice for the new guy, but nooooo".

Still no reply so I lift the undead over my head and dropped him hard into the ground. I wasn't that strong compared to most Heroes but I was getting stronger and was very pissed off right now.

"And the food" I complained "don't get me wrong I like the food of my native land but would it kill them to serve a nice curry or some southern fried chicken. They don't even have pizza!. How messed up is that".

Only groans were given as an answer and I was about to beat the outdated demon some more when I realised I really didn't feel the urge to any more.

Actually I was feeling a little less mad now. I'd really just needed someone to rant at. Now that I'd expressed my feelings with both words and actions I felt better and compared to this guy's problems I had nothing to worry about.

Still I didn't feel one hundred percent yet so I kicked the vamp in the ribs so hard a few sounded like they were broke.

"Oh god ,please just stake me" begged the bloodsucker "this is inhumane".

"Inhumane, your not even human!" I argued.

"Yeah but you are!" countered the monster "I'm evil what's your excuse?".

Okay he had a point there. Fighting was one thing this was just plain cruel.

I took out one of my Colts loaded a bullet and shot the Vampire to test out the gun. The creature's body seemed to spasm and crackle with energy before it turned to dust. I wondered if the gun had killed whatever passed for that demons soul or spirit. Did Vampires even have an afterlife?. If they did that one might not be in it now.

I felt a little guilty right now. The evil thing had been correct I had beat it up for fun which was wrong. It might not have been a person but that didn't make it okay to abuse them like this.

On the other hand it was a Vampire and I hate Vampires so screw them all I'm going home.

**New York. Marvel Verse. **

At the weekend I'd come back to this city to see if Spiderman needed a hand but so far I hadn't been able to find him. Maybe he was off doing his day job as Peter Parker photographer for the Bugle. He wouldn't be at college as it was to late at night for that and I hadn't seen any sign of him playing superhero so it seemed likely that he was taking photos somewhere.

Which left me to protect New York for a while, this was good as I could do with blowing off some more steam. The teaching job was harder that it looked and the students weren't making it easy on me, neither were the staff for that matter. Snape had badgered me in to teaching Potter to occlude his mind, which was pointless as he was too immature and too drive by his emotions to every use it.

So here I was looking for some crooks to beat up and people to save so I could make myself feel like I could actually accomplish something.

Plus here I could listen to my MP3 player without it fizzing out due to being exposed to magic. It was fun to jump from rooftop to rooftop while listening to Three Days Grace. Granted this sort of music didn't make for heroic soundtrack but I'd been a fan of theirs long before I'd become a Hero.

Since I had no webbing I couldn't gain height like Spiderman, so in order to go up I had to climb a building the old fashioned away. Good thing it was dark or people would notice, however I was dressed in black so I was hard to see when above street level. Even as well lit as this city was there were plenty of shadows to keep to and once on top of a rather tall building I got a great view.

Once, not to long ago, I'd been scared of heights but now that I knew that I'd survive most falls I'd discovered that I'd actually been afraid of falling to my death. A far more reasonable fear. But I knew how to stop myself from messing up the pavement. Which is good because I don't think I'd actually live jumping off a building this tall.

"I thought I might find you up here".

I very nearly did see if I would survive impacting the street below when that voice spoke. But I stopped myself and span on the spot pulling out my Colt ready to shoot however had spoken.

Only I stopped myself when I saw that it was a woman in a skin tight PVC outfit half unzipped at the front. It was actually her breasts that stopped me from shooting her. It would be a crime to shoot her and remove those breasts from the world.

"Black Widow?" I whispered.

She didn't hear me as even up this high the sound of the traffic below covered up the noise I'd made.

"So your the Masked Avenger" stated the women "The director wants to met you".

"Nick Fury" I realised.

This time she heard me.

"You know the director?" she asked.

"Not personally" I replied "but I've heard a lot about him".

Time for a little quid pro quo

"How did you find me?" I questioned.

She caught on fast, figuring out that I would answer her questions if she answered mine.

"We have a stealth drone flying over the city" she explained. "We spotted you with thermal imaging You move to slow to be Spiderman and Daredevil sticks to the less pleasant parts of the city. Your movements were easy to track I just parachuted down and waited for you to head this way.

Ah of course you don't get to many people moving from rooftop to rooftop and Spiderman is faster up here than I am. I'd also have to remember to make my patrols more erratic. I didn't want the bad guys ambushing me.

"Clever" I admitted "and its your turn".

"The organization I work for has a team, you might of heard of them. The Director wants to add more members but they all said no. Your new and so won't have the commitments that tie them down".

She paused before saying.

"So my question is this. Will you join them?, or at least meet with the Director?".

I looked her over before answering. Clearly she was the carrot if I said no they might use the stick but I did have commitments just none they knew about so I couldn't join them full time.

On the other hand it was an honour to be asked and I could learn a lot. Plus I might get Black Widow into bed with me.

"If I meet with the director, will you sleep with me?" I asked in my flirty tone while trying to tap into Marlissa's powers.

Her answer nearly sent me off the roof again.

"Sure" she promised "if that's what it takes. I'll even sleep with you before the interview with another round after if you join up. But if you join the team that will be it I don't do office romances".

If it weren't for the fact that I wearing my magical mask I'd look like a drowning goldfish.

"Is now good for you?" she inquired "I can get us a hotel room and I'm only wearing a thong under here so we can get right to it".

Now this is my kind of girl. I'm so going to enthral her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Yay! Reviews Yay, **

**Lord Edric**

**Glad you like her she's going to pop up a few times in this story. **

**I have dyslexia so now and again I will misspell a word and not realise it. There isn't anything I can do about it because if I use perfect rather than prefect there's no spelling mistake for the computer to tell me about. **

**A zat? Well I suppose he could get one. **

**Because I don't think Granger would blow up to a teacher, but she will discuss it in this chapter. Not that this will be important as its just an essay. **

**kovatel**

**I have no idea who that is. **

**Deadzepplin **

**Yeah I liked writing the vampire bit because it really shows how close to the darkside Hero Gothic is. **

**Harry needs a good lecture I agree. Everyone either bullies him or is to soft on him. Someone sitting him down and actually trying to motivate him, might be just what he needs. **

**He's not really stupid so much as he is reckless and over emotional. If he learned some discipline and got the right kind of encouragement he could be quite dangerous **

**war sage.** **Thank You. **

**Silverscale**

**Not sure what you mean there. Should he kick ass inside the school? ** **Yeah I am going to write the scene were he chews Granger out for the essay. But it won't be great its just homework after all. **

**douchiesnacks**

**Thanks.**

**Selias **

**I think showing them a gun would be a bit much given that Damien Mason shouldn't know how to use one. **

**Why would this story get taken down? I won't take this one down its good. I'm planning on at two books of it. **

**Actually the technology not working at Hogwarts thing is cannon its commented on in the Goblet of Fire when Harry says that he thinks Rita Skeeter might be getting her information about what's going on in the school via hidden mircophones. Hermione then says that this wouldn't work at Hogwarts due to the magic. I'll have to double check the exact wording.**

"**All those substitutes for magic Muggles use–electricity, computers, and radar, and all those things–they all go haywire around Hogwarts, there's too much magic in the air" **

**So its seems as if there is a point were too much wand magic in an area messes with technology. Hogwarts is a thousand years after all. Also we can safely assume that this haywire effect won't happen just because some one does a spell or Harry would be destroying the gadgets at Private Drive quite often. Its likely a build up of magic that does it. Hundreds of students for hundreds of years casting spells has got to have some sort of effect. **

**Anyway Gothic has the Sanctuary for storing his high tech goodies and the haywire effect wouldn't stop stuff like an old fashioned typewriter so there is no excuse for the students not to use those they are all just stuck in the past. **

**Hero Gothic. Book One. Part Five.**

**The Ritz Hotel. New York**

"You know when you said hotel room I wasn't imagining at suite at the Ritz" I said to Black Widow as we entered one of the most expensive to stay at hotels in the world.

"The Director has had some trouble recruiting" admitted Black Widow "he told me to, and I quote,

'spare no expense give him whatever he wants just get him to met with me'".

"I'm surprised that you'd go to all this trouble just for me" I told the assassin. "I'm no Captain America".

"Blade speaks highly of your skills" replied Widow.

"He just likes that I kill so many Vampires" I argued.

As soon as I'd taken my mask of Widow had put on a pair of expensive looking sunglasses and kept looking at my eyes. I'd seen enough spy flicks to know that those weren't just tinted lenses. She'd taken photos and right now her fellow S.H.I.E.L.D agents would be trying to match my face to any of their records.

A pointless exercise as even if I did exist in the his world it was the mid nineties and I would be something like ten years old. Even a DNA test wouldn't help as I had the 'Blood of a Hero' and given that being a Hero was a genetic trait my DNA must have been altered.

The lobby of the hotel was massive and a little tacky for my taste but only the room mattered. I wasn't here to admire the décor after all I was here to enthral an Avenger.

I was going to enthral for her a few different reasons. For starters I wanted more than a couple of rounds of hanky panky with this one as she looked just like she did in the Avengers film only with bigger breasts.

Also it was a good idea to have someone on your side if your about to join of a team of people who kick your ass six ways from Sunday. Having a deadly assassin watching my back would be a load off my mind if for any reason the Avengers turned on me.

It would also be nice to have someone in this world who act as a guide. There were so many versions of Marvel that I really had no idea what was going on, at least outside Spiderman's adventures. I really wished I had watched more the X-men cartoons that were part of this world's time line.

A part of me wanted to go back in time and tell my mother to let my younger self watch more Saturday morning cartoons and let him/me read more comic books, that way I'd have a better idea of what was going on around here.

"I'm Mrs. Smith" Widow told the man behind the lobby's desk. "My employer called a head".

"Ah yes Mr. and Mrs. Smith" he clarified in a tone that made it clear that he knew weren't really a married couple. I guessed the names were a password of some sort "the manger informed me that you would be coming. I have your suite ready it overlooks central park as requested".

Why was that important?. Would they have Snipers trained on me. God I hope not, I'm not that kinky

"We have no bags" Widow told the well man dressed man "just take us to the room and we will be departing first thing in the morning".

Wait was she planning for us to spend the night?. I didn't have all night I had my day job to consider. Granted it was the weekend but if I was gone too long someone might notice.

"Colonel Fury will join us in one hour" explained 'Mrs. Smith' "so we have time to enjoy ourselves and the interview shouldn't take to long. After that you'll be free to take some time to think about our offer".

I did have to think about it. I had commitments after all. I didn't want to abandon my students. I might think that coming Wizarding War was a small conflict not important compared to things that happened elsewhere. But despite my efforts I did really want to help those kids. Potter might be a fool but knowing what I know could I simply walk away?.

No I couldn't I had to help him, at least a little and that mean being what he needed right now. Not just a teacher he needed a mentor. Plus I knew how to kill Voldemort and might even be able to do myself with Colt as Tom Riddle wasn't that different from a Supernatural demon.

Horcruxs might not mean much if the bit of soul in this body is destroyed. As far as I understood it they were like anchors keeping him tied to the world like a real anchor keeps a ship in place. If I destroyed the ship then the anchors meant nothing. So maybe I should just go to Riddle Manor and shoot the bastard.

"I'm not sure if I will be able to commit full time" I told my escort "I have commitments but I can promise help now and again when I'm on this world".

"Talk to the Director about it" insisted the agent "maybe we can make it worth your while".

Likely she meant money as she'd already offered her body. Something I would be taking ownership of full time.

It was tempting to take her back to my hidden base and start building my harem but that honour was reserved for those female villains that I didn't kill. Membership in my harem would be a prison sentence my home their jail and their work for me a community service to many worlds.

Might seem like just an excuse but really their lives would be better spent serving me then out causing trouble. I'd have to get a list together at some point and ensure that those I enslaved had something to do. Just locking them up would be cruel although some of them would deserve that and a lot worse.

Widow in many ways qualified for full time harem membership but while she was a killer and quite willing to whore herself out she did these things to serve a greater good. In many way she was a better person than myself as I was asking her to have sex with me for my pleasure she was doing it to serve S.H.I.E.L.D who protected the world.

"Please, follow me" requested the bellboy.

Even the music in the lifts sounded posh in the this place but even posh sounding elevator music offends me so I was glad when we made it to our floor.

The room was spectacular and could be lived in by an entire family. It had all the modern luxuries even a huge hot tub that would like to make use of but didn't really have the time.

"I'm certainly getting the five star treatment" I commented while opening the mini-bar which was nearly an actual bar in my opinion. "are you guys that desperate for recruits?".

"Desperate no, but we are getting pressure from the council" Widow told me.

She was being quite honest with me about all this. I wondered if she being so to see how much I knew. I made myself a strong drink, some sort of coffee liquor by the smell of it, and offered the agent a drink.

"I don't normally while working" she told me "but if its what you want then vodka, please".

She sat at the bar and showed off her impressive breasts drawing my eye. I got the feeling that she would do quite a few things I wanted. The carrot method worked better than the stick. I'm glad they hadn't tried force I would of hated myself for killing her.

I served her a drink and was glad I couldn't get drunk so easily as that coffee liquor was vanishing fast.

Widow drank down her double shot of vodka like it was water and smiled at me.

"So what's your pleasure?" she asked "just want to fuck me or shall I go on top and give you the time of your life. Kink or vanilla its your choice?".

"Depends" I replied "are you going to live up to your code name if I ask for kink".

She laughed a little at that.

"I only bite if asked" she assured "and your to cute to kill"

My demon blade was doing her job it seemed.

"It would be nice to get the woman doing all the work for once" I joked "so I request the time of my life".

Playfully she guided me by the arm and asked me to lie down on the bed. I took of my boots and coat making sure that Marlissa was right by the bed. She needed to be close if this was going to work. I didn't have to anything now it was up the Succubus she would channel her powers through my body and Black Widow would be mine for as long as I wished.

"Let me do everything and you won't be sorry" she promised "just relax and by the time I'm done you'll have the most stress free interview of your life".

Widow stepped away from the bed and slowly unzipped the one piece outfit she was wearing, Her firm breasts were exposed and that got me hard very fast.

Noticing this she stepped forward and undid my belt and unbuttoned by jeans, leaning forward so her breasts covered what her hands were up to. She pulled my jeans off in one smooth motion and then stepped back again to finish undressed.

She turned away from pulled down her outfit so her ass was exposed and then bent forward so I got a really good look. I could tell that she was aroused too which was good as it meant that I was attractive to her and it wasn't just duty she was doing this for. It didn't make a different to what would happen but it was a nice ego boost.

The black underwear she wore soon found itself in my hands.

"You keep that" she offered "its a memento of tonight".

In her view this might be a one time thing and she wanted me to remember it. To oblige her I shoved the naughty knickers into my jacket pocket. I was keeping them even I got to have her again.

Naked now she let me enjoy the view for a while, she even posed a few times to let me study her tight ass and firm tits.

I was amazed by the fact that she completely shaven down there, something I'd thought was a fashion in later years not now. I liked a shaved cunt it was much more feminine and sexy.

After letting me get an eyeful she made her way over to me and playfully used her teeth to remove my boxers before admiring what the they had been hiding.

She kissed and sucked the tip of my penis before making my cock disappear into her mouth. She worked it like a pro and was already was doing what she promised. I really was having the time of my life.

Widow stopped sucking and took my dick in hands gentle rubbing it as she spoke.

"Don't be offended by this but I practice safe sex".

Actually I was a little but there we no spells here to stop her from getting pregnant so we had to use protection as Heroes tended to be quite fertile compared to other men. Also while Heroes didn't suffer when they caught STDs they could spread them and infect others before they were healed of the disease

She placed the condom on with practised ease and slide my hard member into her eagerly waiting cunt. Using muscles men don't have she began milking my cock while slowly moving up and down.

I felt my magic go to work Marlissa was now using the sexual energy produce to enthral Black Widow for me. She would be mine soon enough.

The change was noticeable at first but over time she seemed to lose control over herself. She started slow and steady trying to pleasure me but now she was riding me with desperation, seeking an orgasm the intense feelings of lust breaking her will and making her mine.

Were moments before she had been in control guiding the action I was clearly the one in charge now. She was mine to command.

"Please, may I cum, Master" she begged.

The transformation was amazing.

"You may" I granted.

She screamed out as she had her orgasm. I told her that I wanted her swallow my cum so she got off me and sucked me off some more until I came and she took it all leaving not even a tiny drop behind.

"Fury will be here soon" realised Widow as she started to dress "what shall I tell him, Master?".

"For now nothing has changed" I told my enthralled agent "Act as you normally would unless we are alone. You work for me now and I have need of a spy within your organisation".

I hadn't enslaved her for just my own pleasure, this wasn't just about me I needed someone inside S.H.I.E.L.D so I could kept informed on what was happening on this world. Perhaps if I had gone somewhere that I knew more about I wouldn't have done this but it was to late now I'd done it. I'd just have ensure it wasn't for nothing.

"As you wish, Master" replied the operative.

Okay so being called Master was kind of nice. But I still had to be careful in case this became a habit which led to my corruption. The temptation to become a villain was a strong one I had to be equally as strong to resit it.

There was then a knock at the door.

"Remember to act natural" I told Widow as she went to the door.

Now I just had to make it through the interview and all would be fine.

Fury came in dressed in civilian clothing rather than the uniform that S.H.I.E.L.D agents wore during this era of Marvel when it was on TV. He looked very uncomfortable and the suit kind of reminded me of something an MiB agent would wear. He had the look of someone who should be in a uniform but wasn't, you can always spot guys like that. The eye patch helped too.

"Director Fury" I said by way of greeting. "would you like a drink?".

He refused and we went into the office part of this suite, he led the way which meant that he had been here before. I wondered how many times he'd interviewed people in this city.

"If you don't mind Masked Avenger we'll get right down to business" decided Fury.

Ah so they still had no name for me.

"My name is Gothic" I told the Colonel "its less of a mouth full and were did you pick up the Masked Avenger name?".

Fury opened a suitcase and passed me a copy of the Bugle. A picture of me fighting alongside Spiderman took up most of the front page. No mention of Vampires instead we fought thieves after some advanced technology. Vampires don't leave bodies so it was seen as robbery were the item being stolen was destroyed by Spiderman.

J.J Jamerson needs a new theme if he starts bad mouthing me he's going to get a steel toe-capped boot up his ass.

The words 'photo by Peter Parker' confirmed that he had dropped the name. I'd seen that coming a mile off. Not mention of Blade or his creature of the night partner which is good.

"Cute" I remarked while handing him back the paper "and I guess you know the real story".

Fury nodded and said.

"Blade likes you it seems, took a little convincing but we got the whole story from him".

Eric would only do something like that if it would help his mission. He's not the nicest guy around but he wouldn't risk an ally unless he was sure Fury would treat me well in return. I could also guess that a lot of information on Vampire activities was traded as well.

Fury sat down and offer me a cigar. Which I refused.

"I assume Natasha did as I asked and rolled out the red carpet treatment?"

Natasha then, good to know. Her named had escaped me until now.

"She was most welcoming" I told Fury.

I'm guessing he wanted a carrot hard to resist. I was willing to bet Hawkeye was the stick then as they wouldn't call on the others for this sort of work. Captain America is to honourable for this sort of thing.

"Well that's enough small talk" declared Fury "let's get down to business shall we".

I took a seat and listened to the sales pitch.

"Do you know about the Avengers?" he asked.

"I know a lot about this world" I admitted "The Avengers made up of Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow and The Hulk, oh and a guy with a bow and arrow. Deadshot wasn't it?".

"Hawkeye" corrected Fury confirming it for me.

So the film line up then. That was interesting and good to know.

"We need more people like you, Gothic. We know you can keep up with Parker which means your just the kind of guy we need".

I'm guessing the words 'secret identity' don't mean much to anyone around here.

"I don't know how much Blade told you but I'm not around from here and I have responsibilities on other worlds".

Yes like handing back those essays. Granger is going to freak.

"So does Thor" argued Fury "doesn't stop him helping when he can".

Fair point.

"Yes but I'm not a god" I pointed out, well not yet anyway. "I won't know if you need me its not like you can just text message me 'Avengers Assemble' if I'm on another world"

Fury looked confused before something clicked.

"How often can you check in?" he asked "I can have this room reserved for you full time. I assume you can get in and and out without being seen".

I could apparate right inside and even open doors to this very room.

"I can check in here at least once a week" I told the Director "more often sometimes but if I find some hidden microphone or camera you'll never see me again".

Fury agreed to this and told me that a computer would be hooked up here so I could call him and the rooms door would remain locked. Meaning I'd have to clean myself but I had magic for that.

"It would be better if we could contact you directly, but this will have to do. Unless your willing to join up full time".

"I could do that next summer" I offered "but until then I made a commitment that I have to see through".

"Just check in as often as you can" requested the Director "you never when there is going to be another alien invasion".

Hmm best check something.

"Loki hasn't be spotted on Earth recently has he?" I asked.

Fury frowned his forehead became a mass of wrinkles.

"Not that I have heard" he told me "is it important?".

"Don't know yet" I told him "I foresee certain things that may or may not happen".

Which was a good way of saying I know alternate futures of the other versions of this world but none of it is certain here.

"Just kill Loki if you get the chance" I told Fury "he's not worth capturing alive".

I doubted Fury would listen but it was worth dropping the hint just in case this version of events ended up Loki leading an alien invasion. Granted that was set in the future of another version of this world but best to be prepared in any case.

Fury got up and prepared to leave.

"Thank you for your time Mr. Gothic. Natasha will stick around for a while in case you have more questions and I'll make sure that you have sole access to this room once we've my people have set up the equipment".

I thanked him back and let him get on his way.

"He didn't notice anything different about me" remarked Widow.

"Your a good actress" I pointed out.

During the entire meeting she hadn't said a word and might as well have been invisible, which is what makes her such a good assassin.

"Well I have go and do my day job" I told her while looking at the fob watch that kept me informed of the time in the Wizarding World. "I have an irate swot to deal with".

She looked confused about that.

"Not important" I assured "just do your job and pretend that everything is normal.I'll see you next time I check in".

"I'll be waiting, Master" she replied.

I made a door appear to the Sanctuary and then another one to the school at which I worked. I had an appointment to keep.

**My Office. Hogwarts School. The Wizarding World.**

It was Saturday morning here and now time for my appointment with a certain bushy haired Witch. Hermione came in dressed in Muggle clothing suitable for chilly weather which was a must in Scotland. It was getting colder every day what Halloween around the corner.

"Good morning Miss. Granger" I said as the Gryffindor student took a seat at my large oak desk. "I understand that you have an issue with the mark I gave you for your essay".

Calling it an essay was generous. It was more like a short textbook.

"Yes, I spoke to Professor...".

I stopped her there.

"No you complained to your head of house rather than talk to me about it" I corrected.

Rather than admit the truth she changed tracks.

"I had issues yes, I've never failed an essay in all my time at Hogwarts".

So she'd gone and bitched the Deputy Head. What a nice thing for her to do.

"Do you know why you failed?" I asked her.

"I didn't fail, my essay was well researched. I summarised every quote and it was three inches over the limit".

And there was the problem. She'd come at it completely the wrong way.

"And that is why you failed" I told the teenager "I didn't ask for other peoples opinions or for your opinions on their opinions. I asked what YOU would do, not what ten other people think".

She still wasn't getting it so I carried on.

"Another thing is the word limit, or well length limit in this case".

I really wished I could smoke around here. It would calm me down but I'd quite once I'd arrived in Albion. This was really stressing me out.

"You only write one essay I have to read and mark every single one of them, so when go over the limit that's more time I have to spend on your essay and less time I have for others".

Now she was starting to get it. I could tell by the look on her face.

"Your smarter than everyone else, I get that" I told the girl "I'd bet your smarter than me but you don't need to show that every moment in class. People don't like to made to feel that they are stupid. Every time you answer a question faster than anyone else can you give no one else the time to think. Soon they stop bothering because they know you'll answer for them".

She might have brains but wisdom was a lot harder. I had wisdom due to experience. Now I just hoped to pass some of that on.

She looked a little depressed right now but if it got her out of this bad habit the entire school would be thankful.

"There's also the problem of you just repeating information from books. That just memorising stuff you need to form your own opinions" I explained. "The essay I asked you to write was meant to make you think about defending yourself it wasn't an excuse to check out more library books. I'm not here to feed you data like your computer I'm here to teach how to look after yourself in the wider world".

I paused so that could sink in.

"Other subjects are about that. Its good know history or the theory behind Charms but not in this class. Knowing the contents of a dozen books on defence won't help you when you don't have time to think. When your under attack you need to know what YOUR going to do, not what someone else did".

There was a reason why my instructors had spent hours duelling me with swords or having me shoot targets. They wanted me to know what to do in a fight so they drilled that into me so I don't have to think about things I just do them.

Granted I did often have time to think but that's because I'm quick and agile. I can react to things so fast that I can think what to do next. Not always but I can do that, sometimes I to just had to know.

I was also starting to understand why teachers in the past were allowed to hit students. Its hell of a lot easier to beat some sense into teenagers than it is to reason with them. Still while this lot were backwards in some respect they'd at least stopped that sort of thing now, but it was tempting none the less. Plus this is a boarding school.

Ah well at this way we avoided any crying which would likely end up with me getting all mushy as well. Better start making her feel better before the waterworks start.

"If you can rewrite your essay by the end of the day I'll have time to mark it" I offered.

"I can't do that Professor. I won't have time to research...".

I stopped her again and wondered if I could get away with turning her into an animal. Fake Moody got way with it and I seemed to be more well liked than him.

"Why would you need to research your own opinion?" I asked. "all you need to do is to sit down and think about what you would do".

Hopefully this would work.

"Do you know how to use a typewriter" I asked next.

She seemed thrown by the question but answered that she could.

"Good there's one in the corner you can use it, save yourself having to go and find some parchment".

"But were suppose to use ink and quill" she protested.

"Actually that's just a tradition" I explained "there's nothing in the rules about it. And I will accept printed work. You should get some practice now for when you try and get a job I predict that the Muggle world will be using computers for everything soon".

Hermione looked confused.

"Why would I need to practice typing" she wondered out loud "they don't use computers in the Wizarding World".

I looked at her with sympathy.

"There's no guarantee that you will ever find a job in this world, Miss Granger. Muggleborn are second class citizens here after all".

I wasn't actually too sure about that but knowing this girl as I did she would find out for me and not be able to resist telling me off her findings. It would save me a lot of work and it would explain the lack of carer days around here.

"I don't believe, that" replied Granger "but perhaps I should ask around".

Well hopefully that would get her thinking. If I turned out to be right then it would explain why she married that ginger toss pot. Its wasn't for his good looks that was for sure.

Soon the familiar sounds of keys clacking filled the air as Granger started to use the typewriter. I sat down and started reading the power. Nothing interesting so far but that didn't mean nothing was going on it just meant nothing was being reported. No evidence of attacks on Muggles yet either.

Over the summer the Olympics had dominated the news so much so that I hadn't found out about an IRA bombing until over a month after it happened and by then it was to late to investigate. I doubted the Death Eaters were behind it as it wasn't as if they were the only terrorists running lose.

This month seem quite so far news wise the British Government wanted to stamp down on people owning hand guns (like that would stop me) and some other boring political stuff was happening.

It looked as if they didn't need a Hero for anything major and my time would be better spent elsewhere by the looks of it. If I wanted to help people perhaps I should go elsewhere. It was Sunday tomorrow and I didn't have to patrol after curfew this next week so I could afford to spend a few hours out and about.

Going back to Marvel wouldn't get me anywhere, if there had been anything worth my time Widow would of mentioned it. So where else could I go and do some good. I didn't want to go back to Buffy's world I didn't like how that place made me feel but that wasn't the only world with monsters it in.

I could just go back to Skyrim. Bound to be something to kill and I could always do with more trophies. I'd even made a few 'friends' there and it would be nice to see them again. Hey maybe I could get some smithing lessons. Learning to make my own equipment could be fun.

**The Great Hall. Hogwarts School. The Wizarding World.**

I didn't often eat with my fellow teachers and the student body, not unless it was my turn to supervise, but this evening was different. I'd caught up on my work and was looking forward to my day off having an adventure elsewhere, and so was in a good mood. Plus by the smell of things it was Sheppard's Pie at the staff table which I have a taste for.

"Ah Damien, its good of you to join us" remarked Dumbledore as I took my seat towards the end of the table "we don't see you much at the staff table".

He was one to talk, I'd seen him about three times this entire month.

"You know me Headmaster" I replied in joking manner Damien Mason was known for "I enjoy my privacy and like to eat supper later".

The women at the table smirked as they knew what I actually meant was that I ate late so I could eat with Aurora. Usually while in bed.

"Speaking of those who like to stay up late" said Snape "where is our Astronomy Professor this fine evening?"

I really didn't like this guy. I got the impression that he knew for certain what I was up to with said teacher rather than merely speculating like the rest. I bet the pervert had spied on us somehow.

"Well given that its night time I would assume doing her job" I replied "not that its any concern of mine ,not unless the Astronomy Tower gets attacked by the flight of dragons".

(Author Note: I've dropped three film titles so far in this chapter. I wonder if anyone can spot them. A Darkside cookie for the first one to tell me all three film titles. Answers posted to my forum please)

"I think that unlikely" stated Dumbledore formally ending this topic before changing subjects.

"How are young Harry's extra credit tutorials coming along?" inquired Dumbledore.

Snape had the used the excuse of Remedial Potions in the original time line but that wouldn't work for defence as he was top of the class (still was actually despite not doing that well with his essay) so I'd gone with extra credit tutorials which would be taken into account when taking his Defence OWL later in the year.

"Not as bad as Professor Snape hinted" I answered "Potter's stubborn but hardly hopeless".

Of course unlike the Potions Master I'd actually bothered to explain what 'clearing your mind' meant I had to do it all the time what with Snape's mental probes.

"I was always thought him quite modest" said Sprout butting in to the conversion "I have no idea where Severus gets ideas about arrogance from".

I really wanted to say something along the likes of 'he looks in mirrors to much' or 'he seems to think James Potter cheated death by talking over his son's body' but I dare not I wasn't suppose to now him that well.

"And what do you think of Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked me.

I got the feeling that this question was going to led somewhere but more than that it was hard to answer. I'd seen his thoughts and memories after all or at least snippets of them.

Reading someone's mind is actually rather tricky. The average person had tens of thousands of thoughts every day. The trick when using magic to read them is to make sure the person your reading is thinking about what you want to them to think about. Its hard to find out if someone's guilty thoughts if there busying their mind thinking about the pie there eating. Also avoiding eye contact makes it a lot easier.

I told Potter that and he avoids eye contact with me now which shows he's learning something. Not that I go around reading people's minds its not as easy as it seems and I'm not very good at it unless I use my wand.

"He's reckless to be sure" I stated "his emotions run wild but so do most teenagers for that matter. But for an abused child he's remarkable. Any other student with his home life wouldn't be half as assertive as Harry. Although his self esteem could do with some work".

"What do you mean abused?" asked Sprout "has someone been bullying him?"

Really, were you not here last year. But then again neither was I so I couldn't comment on that.

"I mean at home" I explained "he hides it very well but he was abused even as a small child".

I'd seen the memories to confirm this. It was worse than I'd thought. In fact its a miracle he isn't on the way to being the next Dark Lord. He's powerful enough that's for sure.

"Albus, didne I tell ya..."

Minerva really sounds Scottish when she's mad. To be fair it is a great accent to shout in. Not so good if you sound Welsh like I do sometimes when shouting but my posh but not from anywhere sounding voice isn't so bad for making myself heard.

Dumbledore stopped her.

"As I said at the time, it was for the Greater Good".

Should I press the issue?. It might rock the boat so much he fires me but its not like I really need this job. No I couldn't resit rocking it a little.

"The Greater Good of what?" I asked the Headmaster.

"Excuse me" he replied.

"You say the Greater Good but whose greater good?" I wanted to know "who decides what's good and so great about it".

I'd bet my fortune (which is all the gold in the world, just not this one) that no one has asked that question since Dumbledore imprisoned his ex-boyfriend. Which made me wonder why he just didn't trap Riddle somewhere.

"Its just an expression" explained Dumbledore "I just mean that it was for the best".

I pretended that something had just clicked.

"Wait your the ones who sent him to the Muggles?".

"Aye it was us" answered Hargid "I took 'im there myself".

My kingdom for a tape recorder that works around magic oh and lawyer not afraid to sue. Potter could have these people over a barrel if he had half a mind to. Of course he never would as while he'd stand up for what he saw as right in a heartbeat he'd never turn on Dumbledore, he was already a good little puppet.

"Well no sense worrying about it now" I standing up deciding to skip pudding "what's done is done after all".

That had been fun but I couldn't push old Albus to hard. I might push Potter a bit, in fact why not now. The lad looked like he didn't want to eat.

I went over to talk to him and was surprised no one tried to stop me given what I'd just brought to the surface but as I turned around to check I saw the Deputy Head laying into her boss with words I couldn't follow. The old coot wasn't to get out of that discussion for the next hour or so. I'd reopened some old wounds it seemed.

"Good evening. Mr. Potter" I said to the lad who was not enjoying his Sheppard's Pie very much. Which is a shame because it was really good pie "Sorry for interrupting but I was wondering if I could have a word about your extra credit assignments".

It wasn't a request it was just a nicely phrased order and he knew that, so he followed me to my office. On the way I explained what was going on.

"I just had an interesting discussion with the rest of the staff, and it confirms part of what I have seen in your mind".

I wondered if that was part of the Headmaster's plan. I could no longer pretend that I didn't know Riddle was active once more. I 'd suspected an invitation to a certain order soon but my rocking of the boat during dinner should at least delay that for a while allowing me to stay neutral for a little longer.

Harry didn't reply he didn't want to talk about his home life. Which was really the worse thing he could do. Its hard to help those who don't ask for it. If he'd just say those two little words I would do as he asked but he never would. For an abused orphan he sure has a lot of stubborn pride.

**My Office. Hogwarts School. The Wizarding World.**

"So Voldemort is back then" I stated as we entered my office "this changes things".

Well not really as I'd already known, but now I should know and could act on that information.

"Yes, Professor" confirmed Harry "he's back".

I pretended to be somewhat shocked by the news and ordered my evening tea from a House Elf. Which normally meant tea and an entire cake. Wizards must have one hell of a metabolism the only reason I didn't get fat on this diet was because of how active I am.

"And the Ministry knows this I'm guessing, and that's why they are slagging you off".

I cursed myself for using that slang word, it wasn't part of my projected image but thankfully Potter was no great detective and paid the slip no mind.

This is another reason why I'd avoided DC Earth. Batman would of seen past my projected image within hours and would be half way to the truth by now.

"Yes, Sir and Professor Dumbledore too".

I scowled and said.

"Yes but Dumbledore is a politician he's used to this sort of thing" I pointed out "your a schoolboy and no one seems to care that your reputation is being ripped apart".

"Its just the Prophet" reasoned Harry

Poor naive boy. He no idea of the power the presses had.

"I'm surprised you haven't sued them" I said between sighs "There not only destroying your family name there also keeping people ignorant of the danger they are in. This could cost people their lives".

I just had a good idea for the next essay. 'What do you do if your home is invaded' I could try and get the students thinking about escape routes and such for when the Death Eaters popped round.

"How could I sue them I'm just a student?" he asked.

He had a point there as a minor he couldn't be sued but neither could he return the favour. Assuming that this was even an option here.

"Have you thought about countering them in different ways" I offered "try the Quibbler, not many people take it seriously but if even one person does and starts taking measures to protect themselves well it would worth the time".

If I remembered right he would give Skeeter an interview for that magazine but not until next spring, why wait that long.

"Luna's Dad runs that paper" informed Harry who didn't know that I knew "I could ask her about it".

I smiled at him, poured some tea and offered cake which he refused.

"You should eat more" I told the boy "I know you don't want to talk about your home life but I know you didn't get enough to eat".

Rather than discuss it he just ate cake. Which was a small victory I suppose. I really ought to see if they have any potions treatments that might undo some of the effects of the abuse has on his body. He's even thinner in real life than the books suggest.

"The Quibblers a good start but you'll need more" I told the boy "the Wizarding Wireless might be an option or you could at least worn people via what fan mail you get".

"I don't get fan mail!" protested Potter. "I hardly get any post at all"

"Really" I said faking surprise "I suppose its died off recently but you must get something I can't imagine everyone is hating you not after you just won that Triwizard thing. I read about that and you seemed more popular than ever towards the end".

The words of United States President John F Kennedy summed up Harry rather nicely when it came to the Wizarding Worlds treatment of him

_'Victory Has A Hundred Fathers; Defeat Is An Orphan'._

When he was popular everyone acts like he is their kid but when he's down and out he's more than ever an orphan.

"Oh and if your rich you should see if you can buy the Prophet or at least a controlling interest"

Shit why didn't I think of that earlier. I'm a registered citizen here and have more money and the rest of the population put together. I should see my bank manager at once.

"Buy the Prophet?" he asked "is it for sale?".

Did I arrive in the Potter is a dumbass alternate reality?

"Not as such" I explained "large business like a newspaper aren't often owned by a single person they can have a few owners with the person owning most of it controlling the business while all the owners share the profit".

Purebloods had to be getting their money from somewhere after all. In the Muggle world this was a bit more complex but the Wizarding World actually worked that way. People like Malfoy make a fortune and do very little to earn it.

The Daily Prophet also has a business section so I actually knew all that was true but I had no idea who the owners were as their names meant nothing to me. But the Goblins would know them, maybe I should start acquiring some company shares (or whatever they are called here) then I could stop the slandering all on my own.

Heck for laughs I could use the printing press to make a magazine like Playboy. Unless there already is such a thing as Playwizard magazine.

"I don't think I have that much money" reasoned Potter "but maybe I could buy part of the Quibbler to help out the Lovegoods and get them to write more of the truth".

Now he's thinking (it had to happen sometime) hopefully I can encourage this further.

"That's a good idea" I expressed "if you invested in the Quibbler it could print more copies and reach more people".

Discussing merits of tabloid circulation was a bit much for him right now but at least he was making a start.

I had to wonder if he would still set up the DA. I wasn't teaching any spells due to the inspectors so it might still happen given that I was encouraging independent study.

"Good" I said supportively "getting the truth out is a good start, not many will listen but some will. But what dealing with Voldemort. It might come down to you in the end you stopped him once before maybe you can do it again".

Well it was three times now but I should only know about the one time.

"I can't do anything" he argued "the Order..."

"If your putting your hopes in Dumbledore and his friends then you might as well start running now. Voldemort was active all through the 70's and no could stop him until you did and since no one knows how you you did it we can't count on a repeat performance".

I was painting a grim picture but it was true, assuming the history of the this world matched the one I'd ready about.

"But what can I do!" shouted Harry "I'm too young to fight even Sir...".

Harry stopped himself.

"I read your mind Harry" I reminded him "I know Sirius Black is your godfather and that his is innocent. Don't worry I won't be telling anyone about him".

Potter had the look of someone who just managed to avoid disaster and I had to wonder why Dumbledore was willing to risk so much. He must of known I'd discover a lot of secrets during these lessons. Perhaps he wanted me to find out, maybe he wanted me to do exactly what he couldn't do.

He was avoiding Harry this year due to the boys connection to Voldemort but I was an unknown to Riddle and not a member of the Order so it was less risky me to talk the mentor role. Well it was risky for me. Which might serve Dumbledore as well, as than I would seek the Headmasters protection. Assuming this didn't end up being the reason the curse got me by the end of the year.

Or it might not be any of the old coots plans at all and I was just being paranoid. Who could tell with Dumbledore.

"You won't tell the Minster?" asked a surprised Harry.

"No, why would I?" I asked back.

Wait a moment, did he think I was a spy?.

"So can you teach me to fight?" requested Potter "If I end up having to fit him again I wanted to be able to do more than to try and disarm him".

Sadly I couldn't teach him myself, to many inspectors around but I could give him a push in the right direction.

"I can't teach you anything practical in lessons because of the Ministry inspections" I explained "they might arrest me or at last sack me".

I pitied them if they tried to arrest me. I'd fight dirty and wouldn't take any prisoners.

"But if you don't tell anyone I can help you with your independent studies" I added "their watching the staff not the students after all. You might even want to study with your friends trade what you know with a group".

That should push him into forming the D.A or at least make him tell his friends about the independent study idea.

Harry wasn't as dumb as he seems at times and caught on that I was giving him a silent blessing to start teaching himself, and maybe even others.

"Right, sir" he said standing up "I should go and study in the library, with Hermione".

One last thing to do before he left. I opened a draw and put a book on the desk it was guide to magical duelling something I couldn't teach in class.

"This book should help" I said "but I can't give it to you of course because of the inspectors you understand. So I'm just going to leave it here and the retire for the evening I have so many books I won't miss this one".

I smiled at the teenager before leaving, before I'd even closed the door to my quarters I heard him pick up the book and leave.

I then closed the door and laughed. Maybe this teaching stuff wasn't so hard after all.

**Wizard's Tower. World Unknown. Time Unknown.**

"What the fuck?".

Moments ago I'd been in Skyrim blasting some undead with my pump action shotgun of death and the next I'm what seems to be a Wizard's Tower, and I don't mean the wand waving kind either its more like something out of Dungeons and Dragons.

And not the nice kind of Wizard judging by the amount of skulls, body parts in jars and other occult items that add up to either Necromancer or Demon worshiper, at least in my experience.

"Well your not what I hoped for".

I span on the spot and saw a rather stereotypical evil wizard complete with black robes and pointy beard. It was kind of cheesy really.

"What were you hoping for?" I asked.

"A powerful Succubus" replied the evil mage "I have foes that need dealing with".

Ah so he wanted Marlissa then, I just got dragged along for the ride. No idea how I got here but at least I know why. I am here. This guy plans to use a Succubus to get rid of a few people. Rival wizards I guessed.

"Your not what I was after at all" commented the dark magic user. "I best banish you to the hell from when you came".

Well that could be bad. Any place called hell wasn't likely to be full of sunshine and hugs. I best not allow myself to go there.

"I'm not a demon" I told the spellcaster "you can just let me go".

The wizard snorted.

"That's just what a demon would say!, if I let you out of the containment circle you would kill me".

I'd kill him if he didn't.

In fact I tried to do just that but I couldn't move. The circle he'd mentioned seemed to work like a Devil's Trap only it was keeping me stuck and I'm not a demon. Maybe it was because Marlissa was strapped to my back.

"I'll have to find a more general banishment spell" the summoner started to leave and on his way out he said "now don't move stay right there"

Cheeky git.

I unstrapped Marlissa and placed her down on the floor but I still couldn't move out of the magic trap thing.

"Must be because were bound together" reasoned the demon blade "were partnered up so the containments effecting you too".

Well isn't that just grand. Now we'll get to go to hell together. Well not unless I can fire a spell out of this trap but that would accounted for as demons can use magic too. But hold on demons don't tend to use guns. I took out the 9mm pistol and was able to hold it was outside the modified Devil's Trap. I didn't test fire as I didn't want give the mage any warning. He might not know what a gun is but the loud noise it made would tell him I was up to something.

"Do you get summoned like this often?" I asked my possessed sword.

"This is the first time in hundreds of years" she answered "but others might of tried and were just unable to until we started working together or maybe the chest I was trapped in prevented it. Still don't worry its not a frequent thing and there are ways to stop summoners from dragging you from where ever you are to where ever they are".

Something I would have to look into later. I didn't want this to happen again it was very annoying to say the least.

"Are you going to kill the guy?" asked the demoniacally inhabited weapon.

"Well yes" I replied "he wants to use a Succubus to kill his enemies and I pretty sure that's a dead baby floating in the green jar".

I'd just spotted that and didn't want to focus on it, in case I threw up. I can't think of a good reason to have a dead baby so it must be black magic. I didn't think he would just let me go if I just shot something. Guys like him would simply try and take the gun for themselves, then they would use it to hurt other people.

"Oh even I find that disgusting and I'm a fiend from Hell" she remarked "what's this guys excuse?".

"Insanity, desire for power, lack of morals" I listed "could be any of those things or maybe he's just plain evil".

The last one seemed most likely as when a creature from the pit says she finds something disgusting then you know its really bad. Only humans seem to be evil enough to actually sicken demons.

"Ah now here were are" informed the soon to be dead wizard "this should send you down into the Abyss".

He looked at me.

"I could bind you instead" he offered "you could slay my foes and then I'd only banish you for a thousand years to one of the nicer hells. Just tell me your true name".

In some lore knowing a demon's true name gives you power over them. It shouldn't do anything to me but I couldn't that risk since he was able to trap me he might be able to command me with the right magic.

"My name is.."

Pretending to whispering my true name in case we were being spied upon the mage become curious and came closer.

"My name is.. fuck you asshole".

He lived just long to realised I'd insulted him. I then took the pistol from behind my back and shot him three times in the chest. Before I could do anything else that world was fading away and I found myself back where I had been only moments ago.

"Guess the spell ended when he died" I realised.

"Normally does" confirmed Marlissa "or if your lucky you get free and then you can ***** with the mortals until they cry for mercy".

Well that was a word I'd never heard before. Must be fuck in another language or at least I hoped that was what she said.

"Let's go home Marlissa".

I summoned up a door way to take us back to the castle and while walking down a badly lit tunnel I asked my sword a question.

"Is Marlissa your real name?"

"Nope" she replied.

"What is it then?" I asked.

"My name is...


End file.
